LIBRARY 

BV   4915    .J6  'i860 

Jones,  Joseph  H.  1797-1868 

Man,  moral  and  physical 


'he  John  IM.  Krehs   Donation. 


/■ 


MAN 
MORAL  AND  PHYSICAL: 

OR  THE 

INFLUENCE  OF  HEALTH  AND  DISEASE 

ON 

RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE. 

BY  THE 

Rev.  JOSEPH  H;  JONES,  D.  D. 

I'ASTOK    01'    THE     SIXTH     rRESBYTEIIIAN     CIIU8CU,     rillLADELnilA. 

Noil  ignara  niali  misoris  succurrere  disco. 

Mtj  o'j  XO.I  aCoiia  wjzf^  aovulaztv. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

WILLIAM   S.   &   ALFRED   MARTIEN 

COG  CHESTNUT  STREET. 
1860. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1860,  by 

JOSEPH  H.  JONES, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Clerk   of  the   District   Court   for   the  Eastern 
District  of  Pennsylvania. 


ERRATA. 
On  page  42,  line  tenth  from  top,  for  Aretccus  rend  Aretfviis. 
On  page  112,  line  sixth  from  top,  for  passis  read  possis. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

Connection  betwekn  the  Material  and  Spiritual 
PARTS  IN  Man — David's  language  concerning  his  fear- 
ful and  wonderful  make,  supported  by  the  researches  of 
physiology — The  connection  between  the  body  and  soul 
of  man  as  inexplicable  as  the  mystery  of  the  Trinity — 
We  know  nothing  of  the  substance  of  which  either  is 
composed — The  attempts  of  science  to  explain  these  ulti- 
mate facts  a  failure — Much  that  is  written  concerning 
the  soul  no  more  than  speculation — Remark  of  Dr.  Aber- 
crombie — We  know  only  a  few  facts  in  relation  to  either 
mind  or  matter — Nervous  system,  the  medium  of  com- 
munication between  them — The  subject  blends  with  all 
that  conduces  to  the  enjoyment  and  usefulness  of  life — 
What  is  proposed  in  the  present  treatise — A  book  of  the 
kind  called  for  by  the  exigencies  of  the  Church — Nu- 
merous works  exhibit  the  subject  in  its  pathological 
bearings,  or  as  a  department  of  physiology — Intended  to 
be  a  portable  tract  for  Christians  of  unequal  and  fluctua- 
ting experience — The  nerves,  how  they  are  the  channels 
of  communication  between   the  mind  and   the   body — 


I'  CONTENTS. 

Their  branches  or  ramifications  have  a  sort  of  omnipre- 
sence in  the  animal  fabric — Sympathy  and  sympathetic 
nerve — What  constitutes  the  nervous  system — No  per- 
ceptible change  in  the  size,  colour,  or  shape  of  the 
nerves  when  diseased — Nature  of  the  nervous  force — 
Not  identical  with  electricity — How  the  communion  be- 
tween the  brain,  spinal  marrow,  and  nerves  is  effected, 
we  do  not  know — Not  necessary  to  our  happiness  to 
know  the  essence  of  mind  and  matter — The  morbid  re- 
sults of  the  union  of  the  two,  called  "nervous,"  a  penalty 
for  this  abuse  of  the  blessings  of  civilized  life — Nervous 
diseases  little  known  among  savages — ^Medicine  not  ex- 
tensively cultivated  among  the  ancients — Less  occasion 
for  the  study  and  practice — How  far  was  the  great  age 
of  man,  originally,  the  result  of  physical  causes — Dr. 
Cheyne's  opinion  of  the  effect  of  luxurious,  intemperate, 
and  licentious  habits — The  records  of  prisons  and  alms- 
houses— Idiotic  in  a  Massachusetts'  Charity — Juvenile 
delincjuents  at  Parkhurst,  England — Kemark  of  Mr. 
Coleridge.     Pages  lo — 23. 

The  Sacred  Writings — The  comparative  silence  of  the 
Scriptures  on  the  subject  easily  accounted  for — 'Modern 
discoveries  of  physiology  not  found  in  the  Bible,  but  exem- 
plifications of  their  truth  in  the  experience  and  exercises 
of  the  religious — The  case  of  Saul — of  David,  as  ex- 
hibited in  many  of  his  psalms — Of  the  disciples  in  the 
garden  of  Gethsemane — The  Apostle  Paul — Quotations 
from  serious  minded  heathen  by  the  Fathers — Cicero  on 
human  nature — Mixture  of  Christianity  and  Persian 
philosophy  in  the  system  of  the  Manichcans  of  the  third 
century.     Pages  23 — 27. 


CONTENTS. 


ir.  The  Testimony  of  SriENCE — Connection  between  tlic 
material    and    spiritual    jtarts    iniplictl    in   the    abuses  of 
science — Made  the  ba.sis  of  materialism  under  the  form 
of  cranioscopy,  phrenology,  kc. — The   system    of  Law- 
rence— The  human    frame  made   a   barrel-organ — Such 
sentiments  at  variance  with  sound  science — Discoveries 
concerning   the    Avhole  internal  apparatus  of  the  body. 
Pages  27—81. 
The  Brain — Soldier  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo— Patient  of 
Sir  Astley  Cooper — of  Dr.  Caldwell — Size  of  the  human 
brain  —  of  Lord    Byrdn's  —  Baron    Cuvier's  —  of  Bona- 
parte's— Ca.se  of  Dean  Swift — Conceit  of  some  physiolo- 
gists— of  Descartes — We  do  not  know  how  the  power  of 
thought  is  originated.     Pages  31 — 35. 
The  Sto.m.\ch — Its  connection  with  the  mind — Appetite 
aflfected   by  the  states   of  the   mind — King   Lear — Dr. 
Brigham— Cardinal    Woolsey    and    Henry    VIII. — The 
stomach  reacts  upon  the  mind — Dyspepsia  supposed  to 
be  a  disease  of  the  brain — Aristotle  and   the  hypochon- 
driacs of  his  day.     Pages  35 — 38. 
The  Lungs  and  Heart — Affected  by  the  brain.     Pages 

38,  39. 
TuE  Liver — The   uses   of  this  organ — Its   influence   on 
the  temperament,  mental  functions,  &c. — The  story  of 
Tityus — Version  of  Lucretius,  Hippocrates,  Galen,  Are- 
ta)u.?— Their  use  of  the  term  "melancholy."    Pp.  39-42. 
The  Spleen — The  use  of  this  spongy  viscus — Opinions  of 
Dr.  Crood  and  Archdeacon  Paley — Remarks  of  a  lady  of 
genius    and  accom])lishnients  on  the  subject  of  hepatic 
influence.     Pages  -12 — 15. 
Love — Power  of  the  passion — Antiochus  and  Stratonice. 
Page  45. 
* 


VI  COxNTENTS. 

Hope — Its  connection  with  the  success  of  surgical  opera- 
tions and  the  results  of  medicine — Battle  of  Mincio  in 
1850 — The  French,  Sardinians,  and  Austrians — Patient 
of  ])r.  Rush — Parke,  the  traveller.     Pages  45 — 48. 

Fear — Experiment  in  Russia  on  four  murderers — Exemp- 
tion of  the  inmates  of  Cherry  Hill  prison  from  cholera 
during  its  prevalence  —  Immunity  of  physicians  from 
attacks  of  disease — Curative  efficacy  of  fear — Cases  men- 
tioned by  Drs.  Batchelder,  Rush,  and  Boerhaave — Pre- 
vention of  the  monomania  called  by  Dr.  Moore  the 
"fashionable  apology  for  murder" — Case  of  a  man  in 
New  Hampshire — The  elTect  of  the  teachings  of  Brous- 
sais — Case  of  Dr.  Hunter — Corvisart's  lectures  on  the 
heart,  at  Paris — Opinion  of  Testa — Disease  of  the  heart 
common  in  times  of  political  agitation — France  at  the 
time  of  the  Revolution — Case  recorded  in  the  French 
Journal  of  Medicine — Hair  on  half  the  head  of  a  patient 
in  Pennsylvania  Hospital  whitened  by  fear — Whole  head 
of  Marie  Antoinette  made  white  by  the  same  cause — 
Case  of  a  Sepoy  of  the  Bengal  army  mentioned  in  the 
London  Medical  Times,  1858 — Of  the  young  men  at- 
tempting to  rob  an  eagle's  nest — The  young  gambler  at 
San  Francisco.     Pages  48 — 55. 

Grief — Description  of  it  by  Father  Chrysostom — ]\Iclanc- 
thon — Philip  V.  of  Spain — Dr.  Zimmermann's  opinion 
of  the  cause  of  his  death — Dr.  Johnson — Metaphorical 
expression  "broken  heart,"  sometimes  pathologically  cor- 
rect.    Pages  55,  56. 

Joy — A  woman  in  the  city  of  New  York — Cases  of  Sopho- 
cles, Chilo,  Juventius,  Talma,  and  Fouquet.  Pages 
56,  57. 

Chagrin,  or  Shame — Story  told  by  the  Rev.  Daniel 
Baker.     Page  57. 


contents.  vu 

Physical  effects  of  a  morbid  imitative  Sympathy, 
AND  OF  Imagination — Rev.  Dr.  Davidson's  History  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky — His  account  of 
the  "bodily  exercises"  Avhich  attended  revivals  of  reli- 
gion— The  falliufx,  rolling,  running,  dancing,  barking, 
and  jerking  exercises — Account  of  the  Jerks — Bodily 
exercises  in  Ireland — Account  of  Rev.  Dr.  Macnaugh- 
ton — Power  of  imagination  exemplified  in  the  records  of 
empiricism — ''  Metallic  tractors" — Wooden  tractors  of 
Dr.  Ilaygarth — Dr.  AVoodhouse  and  nitrous  oxide — Bar- 
tholini,  a  physician  of  Copenhagen,  1616 — Dr.  Franciscus 
Borri,  of  Milan — Case  of  a  Neapolitan  merchant  men- 
tioned by  Gregorius  Leti  in  his  history  of  the  Duke 
D'Ossuna — Seldcn's  "Table-Talk" — Case  of  a  gentleman 
cured  by  a  card  wrapped  in  tafi'eta — The  reflected  in- 
fluences of  the  mind  and  the  body  too  little  understood — 
The  subject  a  branch  of  Moral  Therapeutics  of  great 
importance  to  those  who  are  charged  with  the  health 
of  either  the  body  or  the  soul.     Pages  57 — 68. 

III.  Christian  Experience — Religious  frames  closely 
allied  to  what  is  called  the  "  constitution" — Idiosyncra- 
sies of  nature  not  merged  in  grace — Remark  of  the 
astrologers  concerning  Cyrus — Example  of  Simon  Peter — 
of  Paul  and  John — of  Melancthon — of  Martin  Luther — 
Rev.  Timothy  Rogers — Christianity  made  to  suff"er  from 
the  physical  sufferings  of  its  professors — Their  spiritual 
fluctuations  produced  by  physical  causes — Rev.  Dr.  J. 
R.  McDuff — Dr.  Francia — Case  mentioned  by  Dr.  Spen- 
cer, of  Brooklyn — Case  of  Rev.  Mr.  Cecil — Rev.  Dr. 
James  Hall,  of  North  Carolina — A  venerable  clergyman 
lately  deceased  —  Dean  Milner — Richard  Baxter — Dr. 
Payson — David  Brainerd,  and  the  poet  Cowper.  Pages 
68—06. 


CONTEXTS, 


CHAPTER    II. 


Uses  of  Knowledge  on  the  subject — Remark  of  Rev. 
I)r.  A.  Alexander  concerning  young  preachers — Rev. 
Mr.  Greenham's  sentiments.     Pages  97 — 100. 

Doctrine — Subject  profitable  for — President  Edwards' 
remarks  concerning  Brainerd — CavSe  of  Dr.  Rusb — His 
Es.say  on  the  Influence  of  l^hysical  Causes  on  the  floral 
Faculty — Rev.  Thomas  Boston  —  His  ''Crook  in  the 
Lot" — Dr.  Alexander's  opinion  of  the  work — Extract 
from  a  preacher's  diary — Case  of  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas 
Scott — of  Rev.  Andrew  Fuller — of  Dr.  Madan  and  Cow- 
per — Censure  of  physicians  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Royal  Academy  of  31edicine  in  Paris.     Pages  100 — 106. 

Charity — Subject  profitable  for — The  melancholy  claim 
our  condolence — Are  not  to  be  treated  with  levity  or 
ridicule — Dr.  John  Cheyne's  description  of  nervous  dis- 
eases— The  sufferings  which  they  cause  inconceivable  to 
any  who  do  not  know  them  by  experience — Such  suf- 
ferers not  to  be  rebuked  with  severity — Rev.  Mr.  Dod — ' 
Rev.  Timothy  Rogers — The  power  of  kind  words.  Pages 
106—112. 

Useful  for  Reproof  and  Correction — It  explodes  the 
popular  error  of  ascribing  certain  disordered  states  of 
the  mind  to  the  influence  of  religion — Testimony  of 
Rev.  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander — Insane  monks  in  France 
before  the  Revolution — Mental  disorder  caused  by  epi- 
demical delusions — Dr.  George  Moore,  member  of  the 
Royal  College  of  Physicians  in  London — His  opinion  on 
the  alleged  influences  of  religion  in  producing  insanity — 
Of  Rev.  Dr.  Ashbel  Green — Of  Doctors  Abercrombie, 
Burrowes,  John  Cheyne,  and  Cunibe — Dr.  James  John- 


CONTENTS.  IX 

son's  remark  on  the  subject — Patient  of  Dr.  Kirkbridc 
in  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital — Four  cases  of  mental  dis- 
order within  the  sphere  of  the  author's  pastoral  expe- 
rience— The  mistake  of  imputing  to  Satanic  agency  what 
is  dependent  on  bodily  disease — Case  of  the  wife  of 
Kev.  John  Newton — Case  of  John  Bunyan — of  jMartin 
Luther — Opinion  of  Richard  Baxter — Injurious  influ- 
ence on  the  mind  ascribed  to  Calvinism — Opinion  of  a 
writer  in  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica — of  Es(|ulrol — 
Macaulay — Haley's  insinuation  in  relation  to  Cowper 
unwarranted  — Judicious  remark  of  Dr.  Cheyne — Case  of 
an  injured  wife  in  London.  Pages  112 — 181. 
Use  for  Consolation — Doctrine  of  physical  influences 
liable  to  be  perverted — It  suggests  many  questions  not 
to  be  solved  by  referring  them  to  conscience — Case  of  a 
young  man  preparing  for  the  ministry — Of  others  who 
had  made  whimsical  vows — How  far  the  exercises  of 
Christians  in  their  morbid  states  are  moral,  a  very  per- 
plexing question — Moral  qualities  hereditary — Opinion 
of  Dr.  Rush — An  innate  tendency  to  evil  not  an  apology 
for  yielding  to  the  inclination — How  the  doctrine  is  a 
source  of  relief — Exclamations  of  a  soul  in  giving  vent 
to  its  spiritual  anguish — Case  of  a  clergyman  in  New 
England — Gloominess  consistent  with  a  regenerate  state — 
An  opinion  from  the  highest  medical  authority — Obser- 
vation of  Mr.  Pearson  in  his  life  of  Mr.  Hay — The 
Saviour's  declaration — Payson's  Biography — Private  dia- 
ries of  Christians — Error  in  publishing  Cowper's  during 
the  period  of  his  gloomy  aberration — The  doctrine  of 
physical  influences  not  to  be  used  as  an  excuse  for  wilful 
delinquency — If  rightly  considered,  may  minister  relief 
and  make  us  watchful — Extract  from  Mason's  Spiritual 
Treasury.     Pages  131—148. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    III. 

Temptations  of  Desponding  Christians — Reproof  of 
the  Apostle  James — Morbid  physical  influences  often 
erroneously  ascribed  to  Satan.     Page  144. 

Christians  tempted  to  believe  that  they  have 
committed  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost — 
Opinions  of  Father  Austin,  of  the  fourth  century,  con- 
cerning this  sin — Of  the  schoolmen  of  the  Middle 
Ages  —  Of  Calvin  —  Arminius — Dr.  Chalmers  —  These 
fears  may  be  indications  only  of  imperfect  bodily  health — 
Mr.  Kemper — A  young  man  twelve  years  under  the 
impression  that  he  had  committed  this  sin — Dr.  Ridgley's 
opinion — Rev.  Daniel  Baker's  case.     Pages  145 — 151. 

Tempted  to  adopt  a  false  standard  of  Duty,  and 
ambiguous  evidences  of  a  regenerate  state — 
Like  the  Jews,  they  look  for  ''signs" — Many  distressed 
or  misled  by  the  sudden  occurrence  to  their  mind  of  an 
''alarming  text  of  Scripture" — Case  of  Mr.  Lackington — 
Others  tempted  to  trust  in  "  dreams" — The  character  of 
our  dreams  depends  much  on  our  physical  condition — 
Case  of  Baron  Trenck — of  Condorcet — Coleridge — Presi- 
dent Edwards — Not  denied  that  God  may  reveal  Himself 
through  supernatural  dreams — Case  of  a  young  lady  in 
England — Cases  mentioned  by  Dr.  Abercrombie — Shak- 
speare's  theory — Queen  Mab.     Pages  151 — 159. 

Christians  of  a  nervous  temperament  make  too 
MUCH  OF  Religious  Frames — Mr.  Brownlow  North — 
Case  of  a  female  mentioned  by  him — Example  of  Mrs. 
Hawkes — Rev.  J.  Newton's  remark — Letter  of  Rev. 
Mr.  Cecil.     Pages  159—163. 


CONTENTS.  XI 

Mental  Introspection — Remark  of  Rev.  Mi-.  Spencer — 
ludulging  in  melancholy  meditation  does  no  good — Dr. 
Chalmers'  letter  to  Mr.  Anderson.     Pages  163 — 107. 

Temptation  to  "make  an  idol  of  comfort" — Obser- 
vations of  Dr.  Harris — Many  mistake  an  abatement  of 
comfort  for  its  removal — Christians  often  make  the  same 
mistake  as  did  the  sons  of  Zebedce — Extract  from  Wil- 
liam Mason.     Pages  167 — 170. 

Temptation  to  Despair — The  climax  of  morbid  spiritual 
disquiet — in  most  cases  evidently  the  result  of  bodily 
disease — Apt  to  be  promoted  and  nurtured  by  perverted 
views  of  truth — Some  morbid  Christians  afraid  to  pray — 
Others  fear  that  they  have  eaten  and  drnnk  damnation 
to  themselves — Case  of  an  interesting  female — Distress 
caused  by  endeavouring  to  harmonize  the  decrees  of  God 
and  his  foreknowledge  with  free  agency — Such  cases 
closely  analogous  to  the  temptations  of  those  who  imagine 
themselves  guilty  of  the  unpardonable  sin — Persons  ex- 
posed to  this  temptation  are  apt  to  neglect  the  means  of 
grace — Despair  never  made  a  human  being  better — Re- 
markable case  mentioned  by  Rev.  Mr.  Spencer.  Pages 
170—177. 


CHAPTER     IV. 

Counsels  to  the  Troubled  and  Desponding — Book 
not  written  for  medical  men — Why  the  subject  of  this 
volume  not  more  frequently  treated  in  later  times — 
Prominency  given  it  in  the  older  English  writers — Re- 
mark of  Dr.  Cheyne  on  the  ignorance  of  many  religious 
men  of  the  influence  of  physical  causes  on  their  spiritual 
enjoyment.     Pages  178 — ISO.  'if  ^ 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

Desponding  Christians  should  ascertain  the  cause 
OF  their  religious  disquietude — Baxter's  opinion — 
Should  not  chide  themselves  for  faults  which  are  charge- 
able to  bodily  disease — Counsel  on  this  subject  attended 
with  more  or  less  danger — Many  of  our  sorrows  of  soul 
retributory,  and  we  are  only  made  (o  jwssess  the  iniquities 
of  our  youth — The  subject  guarded  against  perversion — 
Remark  of  Dr.  A.  Alexander — Some  predisposed  to  think 
that  their  gloom  proceeds  from  a  culpable  cause — In- 
quiries into  our  personal  state  should  be  pursued  dili- 
gently— Despondency  may  be  produced  by  false  views  of 
religion,  or  it  may  cause  them — Not  always  easy  to  deter- 
mine which  is  cause  and  which  effect — A  good  rule  for 
guiding  the  judgment — Religious  vapours.  Pages  180 — 
186. 

The  desponding  should  avail  themselves  of  judi- 
cious Medical  Advice — Case  of  Dr.  Rush — Baxter's 
counsel — What  a  well  instructed  physician  can  do — 
Every  physician  not  competent  to  treat  the  cases  of  the 
desponding — Physicians  often  betray  a  culpable  igno- 
rance of  the  reciprocating  relationship  between  body  and 
mind — Book  of  the  heart — Sentiments  of  an  eminent 
lecturer  in  a  medical  school — Advice  of  Mr.  Rogers — 
Change  in  the  character  of  diseases  in  later  years — 
Nervous  diseases  the  most  numerous — Sydenham's  esti- 
mate of  fevers  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century; 
Dr.  Cheyne's  of  nervous  disorders;  Dr.  Trotter's — 
Deaths  in  England  during  1856 — No  opinion  expressed 
as  to  the  accuracy  of  these  computations — They  show 
that  the  subject  of  nervous  disorders  importunately  de- 
mands the  attention  of  physicians — A  morbid  mental 
state  often  removed  by  a  drug — Case  of  a  lady  in  Phila- 


CONTENTS.  Xlil 

delphia — Another  mentioned  by  Rev.  ]M.  E.  Hope,  M.T). 
— The  poet  Dryden — Descartes — IMutarch's  saying,  Not 
tamper  with  drugs — Case  of  Rousseau.    Pages  186 — 200. 

The  DEsi'ONniNG  should  seek  suitable  society — Re- 
mark vi'  31  r.  Ijocke — .Story  of  Cfcsar — Proverb  of  .Solo- 
mon— Often  good  to  compare  exercises — Hard  to  dis- 
abuse the  mind  of  the  desponding  of  tlieir  erroneous 
opinions  concerning  their  state — Remark  of  Mr.  Rogers — 
Mr.  Robert  Bruce,  of  Edinburgh,  relieved  after  having 
been  twenty  years  in  terror  of  conscience — Such  sufferers 
do  not  receive  sufficient  sympathy — Captain  Benjamin 
Wickes,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Rev.  Joseph  Eastburn — 
Cowper  and  the  Unwins — One  of  four  cardinal  rules — 
Company  of  cheerful  Christians  recommended  to  the 
melancholy — Avoid  that  of  the  gloomy — Dr.  Hufeland's 
opinion — Counsel  of  Dr.  Everard  3Iayn waring  in  his 
Tutela  Sanitatis — Advice  of  Seneca — Teachings  of  St. 
Paul— Compare  our  state  with  that  of  others  in  a  condi- 
tion far  less  desirable — Two  cases  mentioned  by  Dr. 
Hall — A  lady  helpless  by  palsy — Archdeacon  Paley  on 
the  goodness  of  God — Digestion  aided  by  laughter  — 
Solomon  on  cheerfulness.     Pages  200 — 211. 

Those  who  would  enjoy  spiritual  comfort  should 
BE  Temperate — Dr.  Johnson's  opinion  of  water — Hip- 
pocrates— Burton's  Anatomy  of  Melancholy — Dr.  Rush 
on  the  effect  of  diet  on  the  moral  faculties — Dr.  l^aris 
on  animal  food — Dr.  McNish,  of  Glasgow — The  effect  of 
living  solely  on  beef— Hon.  C.  A.  Murray — Dr.  Arbuth- 
not  on  vegetable  regimen  —  Payson's  excessive  absti- 
nence— Nervous  disease  caused  by  excess — Dr.  Combe's 
opinion — An  eminent  physician  of  London  on  the  effects 
of  the  luxurious  habits  of  the  people — Persons  subject 
1 

'4 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

to  nen'ous  depression  should  give  special  attention  to 
the  subject  of  dietetic  economy — The  spiritual  man 
should  keep  his  body  under — How  far  a  healthy  appetite 
may  be  indulged — Dr.  Holland's  three  rules — Remarks 
of  Dr.  Hall — of  Dr.  J.  Johnson — His  rule  for  regulating 
the  appetite— President  Edwards — Latin  distich.  Pages 
211—222. 

The  desponding  should  be  habitually  occupied — 
The  mind  should  be  employed — Diseases  often  caused 
and  increased  by  habitually  thinking  of  them — The  phi- 
losopher Kant — A  man  retiring  from  business — Quota- 
tion from  Cecil — Persons  not  made  more  religious  by  a 
constant  thinking  on  religion — The  i:)ious  man  should 
have  but  one  dominant  motive — Another  rule  for  the 
relief  of  melancholy  Christians — Tendency  of  ministers 
in  their  sine  titulo  condition — Remark  of  Dr.  Ashbel 
Grreen — Brooding  over  our  spiritual  maladies — Cowper's 
translating  Homer  and  Madame  Guyon — Johnson's  ad- 
vice to  Boswell — His  translation  of  Thuanus — Panacea 
for  the  taedium  vitaj — Case  of  a  fellow  student — Of  Dr. 
Lobdell — Activity  in  promoting  the  welfare  of  others — 
Harlan  Page — Self-denial — Difficulty  of  complying  with 
these  counsels — Trying  case  of  clergymen  in  declining 
health,  especially  in  advanced  life  —  Casus  omissus. 
Pages  222—232. 

Watch  and  promote  Bodily  Health  —  The  special 
counsel  of  Dr.  J.  W.  Alexander — Importance  of  a  scru- 
pulous attention  to  this  advice — Connection  between  our 
emotions  of  joy  and  sorrow  and  our  health — Sine  animo 
coi'pus,  &c. — Authors  on  the  subject  of  promoting  health, 
numerous — Recapitulation  of  some  of  the  instructions  in 
the  preceding  pages.     Pages  232 — 234. 


contents.  xv 

Due  discrimfn^ion  and  self-control  in  relation 
TO  OUR  Food — Plutarch  and  the  Boeotians — Kichitrd 
Cumberland.     Pages  234,  235. 

Sufficient  rest,  and  at  the  proper  seasons — Des- 
pondency caused  by  study  at  unseasonable  hours — The 
effect  as  stated  by  Dr.  Johnson — Manual  for  the  Ner- 
vous— -Case  of  a  theolojiical  student — Rev.  Dr.  Samuel 
Miller  on  night  study — M.  CJuizot,  Mini.ster  of  Louis 
Philippe — Henry  Kirkc  AVliitc — Urquhart — Henry  Mar- 
tyn.     Pages  285—238. 

Injurious  effects  of  narcotics — Tobacco — Cowper 
and  Rev.  Mr.  Bull,  of  Newport-Pagnell — "Counter-blast 
to  Tobacco  of  King  James  the  First" — Edict  in  the  time 
of  Elizabeth — Dr.  Dunglison — M.  Bouisson — Letters  on 
Clerical  Habits  and  Manners — Excessive  use  of  tobacco 
by  theological  students — Its  manifold  injurious  effects — 
Not  easily  persuaded  of  their  danger — Ought  not  to  be 
taken  at  all,  or  if  ever  necessary,  in  small  quantities,  and 
as  seldom  as  possible — The  practice  a  trespass  against 
our  neighbour — Some  who  use  it  a  trouble  to  themselves 
and  to  everybody  else — A  special  case — The  fact  a  me- 
lancholy one — Its  great  havoc  of  life,  especially  in  Ger- 
many— Its  injurious  influences  on  the  mind,  causing 
melancholy,  and  sometimes  insanity — Alcoholic  drinks, 
and  stimulating  or  stupefying  drugs — Opinions  of  Doc- 
tors Good,  Cullin,  and  Moore.     Pages  238 — 247. 

Exercise  in  Pure  Air — Tendency  of  the  depressing  pas- 
sions to  render  us  inert  and  taciturn — The  present  trea- 
tise not  an  attempt  to  give  all  the  counsels  which  are  so 
accessible  in  standard  authors — Opinion  of  one  of  the 
most  eminent — A  "moral  atmosphere"  not  altogether  a 
figure  of  speech — Dr.  Hall — L^tility  of  exercise  under- 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

stood  by  literary  men — "Peter's  Letters  to  his  Kins- 
folk"— Advice  of  Horace  to  Virgil — The  men  whom 
''Peter"  speaks  of,  and  their  mode  of  taking  exercise — 
Counsel  of  one  restored  from  prolonged  melancholy. 
Pages  247—252. 

Dr.  N.  L.  Rice  on  Ministerial  Depression — Daniel 
Baker's  remark — All  ministers  cannot  apply  it  to  them- 
selves— Many  have  seasons  of  mental  depression,  pro- 
duced by  various  causes — How  their  depression  ope- 
rates— Suggestions  not  to  attempt  mental  labour  while  it 
continues — If  necessary  to  preach,  select  a  subject  which 
demands  intellectual  eflPort — How  they  should  commence 
their  discourse — Not  come  to  any  new  conclusions,  nor 
change  their  plan  while  under  mental  depression — We 
should  make  no  attempt  to  reason  persons  out  of  their 
gloomy  mood — Case  of  a  minister  from  Virginia — The 
"blues"  —  Timely  rest  and  diversion  —  Dr.  Alexander's 
"Thoughts  on  lleligious  Experience" — Importance  of 
special  watchfulness  and  prayer  against  melancholy  in 
the  decline  of  life — Cases  of  two  persons  mentioned  by 
Dr.  A.  Alexander.     Pages  252—260. 

Let  the  desponding  look  to  Christ — Eev.  Mr.  Ro- 
gers— We  must  distinguish  between  our  justification  and 
our  sanctification — Between  the  effects  of  faith  and  faith 
itself — Our  sanctification  full  of  imperfection,  but  the 
righteousness  of  Christ,  on  which  we  rely  for  justifica- 
tion, is  perfect — Dr.  Church,  President  of  a  Medical 
Society — His  opinion  on  the  efficacy  of  faith  in  the  cure 
of  diseases — Opinion  of  Dr.  Bell — Mr.  Shrubsole's  ac- 
count of  himself  in  his  Christian  Memoirs — Rev.  Dr. 
Ashbel  Green  on  excluding  ministers  from  the  chamber 
of  the  sick — Concurring  sentiments  of  Doctor  Rush — 


CONTENTS.  XVU 

Dr.  Rush's  view  of  the  moral  and  religious  qualifications 
necessary  for  a  physician — Cures  performed  by  faith  and 
hope — Kev.  3Ir.  Rogers'  restoration  in  answer  to  prayer — 
His  book  a  monument  of  his  deliverance — A  prevailing 
temptation  of  desponding  Christians  to  look  to  themselves 
and  thejr  fluctuating  frames — Jjike  the  Israelite  in  the 
wilderness,  depending  on  the  strength  of  his  constitution 
instead  of  looking  to  the  brazen  image — Baxter,  for 
many  years,  in  great  perplexity  about  his  own  spiritual 
state — Remark  of  his  biographer,  Orme — All  hope  of 
the  guilty  creature  is  exterior  to  himself — The  gospel  is 
the  balm  of  Gilead,  and  Christ  the  only  Physician — 
These  sentiments  cannot  be  repeated  too  often — God  can 
as  easily  forgive  a  thousand  sins  as  one — Poring  upon 
ourselves  increases  our  troubles — "Apt  to  think  we  could 
go  to  Christ  were  we  so  and  so" — Not  forget  the  pro- 
mised help  of  the  Holy  Spirit — Watch  against  a  com- 
mon sin  of  the  desponding — Assurance  does  not  imply 
that  we  are  free  from  sin — Remark  of  Thomas  Adam — 
The  despondency  and  gloom  of  the  pious,  a  mystery  of 
Providence — Rutherford's  remark — ^No  more  diflBculty 
in  the  abandonment  of  good  men  to  despondency  pro- 
duced by  a  physical  cause,  than  in  their  being  the  victim 
of  any  other  natural  evil — No  promise  of  the  Bible  that 
insures  them  against  such  a  trial — Job's  history  moni- 
tory— Cowper's  mental  darkness  did  not  militate  with 
the  Divine  goodness — Afiliction  used  by  God  to  try  and 
manifest  the  graces  of  his  people — Instrumental  in 
qualifying  religious  teachers  for  greater  usefulness — 
Rods  of  God  sharp,  but  "dipped  in  honey" — Remarks 
of  Mr.  Rogers  on  the  subject — The  new  creature  raised 
out  of  the  ruins  of  the  flesh — God's  providence  will  turn 
1* 


nil  CONTENTS. 

our  water  into  wine,  &c. — Dr.  Watts's  remarks  on  the 
disappointments  of  heaven — The  imperfect,  sanctification 
of  Christians  on  the  near  approach  of  death,  a  subject 
of  perplexity  to  many — An  enigma  to  Dr.  Guthrie — His 
proposed  solution.     Pages  260 — 279. 


P  E  E  F  A  C  E. 


A  devout  physician  once  told  a  friend  of  the 
Avriter,  that  "  he  never  knew  a  triumphant 
death  when  the  disease  of  the  pious  patient 
was  below  the  diaphragm."  This  remark  may 
be  taken  in  a  broader  sense  than  its  author 
intended,  and  from  which  we  should  earnestly 
dissent ;  but  it  recognizes  a  power  of  our 
bodily  maladies  to  control  and  pervert  the 
healthful  functions  of  the  mind,  which  none 
are  more  concerned  to  know  than  they  who 
have  the  cure  of  souls.  Within  the  range  of 
almost  every  pastor's  charge  of  moderate  ex- 
tent, cases  of  spiritual  distress  are  occurring 
to  which  he  can  minister  no  relief;  they  lie 
beyond  the  reach  of  any  remedies  to  which  he 
can  resort.  The  latent  cause  is  the  morbid 
condition  of  the  physical  part,  which  brings 
them  legitimately  within  the  province  of  the 
physician.     On  the  other  hand,  the  instances 


PREFACE. 


are  scarcely  less  multiplied,  in  which  all  the 
science  and  skill  of  the  healing  art  are  impo- 
tent, till  the  thorn  is  extracted  from  the  con- 
science. The  influence  of  physical  agents  on 
moral  states,  moreover,  is  too  little  understood 
or  heeded  by  the  instructors  of  our  children. 
They  do  not  sufficiently  consider  the  connec- 
tion between  intellect  and  morality,  or  between 
sensation  and  thought.  "The  study  and  the 
statistics  of  mental  disease  teach  a  fearful  les- 
son concerning  the  giant  evils  resulting  from 
ignorant  mismanagement  of  the  body  in  rela- 
tion to  the  mind  and  the  moral  nature." 

It  has  been  intimated  by  judicious  friends, 
that  our  smaller  work  on  this  subject  first  pub- 
lished, would  have  been  made  more  instructive 
and  extensively  useful  by  a  considerable  ampli- 
fication. The  last  two  letters  that  we  ever 
received  from  our  lamented  friend  and  corres- 
pondent. Dr.  James  W.  Alexander,  related 
mainly  to  its  reproduction  and  enlargement 
"on  several  points,"  which  he  thought  "should 
be  treated  more  fully."  None  of  all  our  fi'iends 
ever  expressed  a  deeper  interest  in  the  subject 
of  this  book,  nor  helped  us  more  by  their 
counsel,  than  the  late  Doctors  Alexander,  both 
father  and  son.     The  removal  of  the  former. 


PREFACE.  U 

like  a  shock  of  corn  in  his  season,  though  caus- 
ing ■Nvide  spread  sorrow,  did  not  take  us  by 
surprise. 

Multis  ille  bonis  flcbilis,  occidit; 
Nulli  flebilior,  qiiain  milii. 

The  death  of  the  hitter,  in  his  fuU  strength, 
and  at  the  time  of  so  great  and  increasing 
usefulness,  was  painfully  abrupt,  and  seemed 
to  be  premature.  He  was  taken  from  a  large 
circle  of  admirers,  whose  memory  lingers  on 
their  irreparable  loss,  with  the  mournful  reflec- 
tion expressed  in  that  "exquisite  inscription 
of  Shenstone's,"  whose  aroma  no  translation 
can  preserve, 

lieu!  quanto  minus  est  cum  reliquis  versari,  quam  tui  meminisse! 

They  almost  forget  the  living  in  their  reminis- 
cences of  the  dead. 

AVe  have  so  far  respected  the  suggestions  of 
our  advisers  as  to  add  to  what  was  presented  in 
the  prior  edition  many  interesting  facts,  which, 
however  familiar  to  persons  conversant  with 
the  standard  works  on  Physiology  and  Hy- 
giene, will  be  new  to  others.  Changes  have 
been  made  in  other  respects  by  additions  and 
various  modifications,  especially  under  the  heads 
of  Temptations  and  Counsels,  which  have  ma- 


10  PREFACE. 

teiially  increased  its  size,  and  made  it  more 
conducive  to  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
written.  The  author  makes  no  pretension  to 
originaUty  or  deep  thinking,  nor  to  such  an 
acquaintance  with  psychology,  or  physical 
science,  as  a  more  thorough  and  enlightened 
discussion  of  the  subject  requires.  So  far  as 
the  thoughts  of  others  have  been  approved, 
and  were  adapted  to  the  purpose  of  the  writer, 
they  have  been  adopted,  often  in  their  own 
language,  and  are  here  acknowledged  in  gene- 
ral, to  supersede  the  necessity  of  multiplied 
marginal  references  and  marks  of  quotation. 
The  authors  of  certain  well-written  papers  on 
subjects  kindred  to  this,  in  the  Literary  and 
Theological  Review,  the  Biblical  Repertory, 
and  Christian  Spectator,  will  perceive  our  obli- 
gations to  them.  Doctors  George  and  John 
Cheyne,  Combe,  Good,  Moore,  Broussais,  Bur- 
rows, Rush,  Dunglison,  Brigham,  Hall,  and  Es- 
quirol,  have  been  consulted,  especially  Dr.  James 
Johnson,  justly  called  "the  ablest  and  most 
effective  writer  of  the  age  on  every  subject  to 
which  his  attention  was  directed."  Little  is 
left  for  a  successor  to  glean  in  any  field  of 
medical  research  after  having  been  reaped  by 
him.     We  have  also  had  much  assistance  from 


PREFACE.  1 1 

"  the  soundest  and  ablest  medical  periodical 
in  the  English  language" — the  Mcdico-Chirur- 
ffical  lleview.  As  reference  will  be  found  in 
the  present  work  to  certain  writers  on  subjects 
akin  to  that  of  which  it  treats,  we  give  the 
titles  of  a  few  for  the  guidance  of  any  who  may 
have  leisure  and  inclination  to  read  them.  In 
addition  to  those  already  named,  we  would 
mention  Pritchard,  Pinel,  Prout;  Voison  on  the 
Moral  and  Physical  Causes  of  Mental  Mala- 
dies; Tissot  on  the  Health  of  Men  of  Letters; 
Hitchcock's  Lectures  on  Diet,  Regimen,  and 
Employment;  Shepherd's  Sincere  Convert;  and 
Robe  on  Religious  Melancholy.  Most  of  these, 
of  course,  view  the  subject  of  which  they  treat, 
as  philosophers  or  men  of  science;  but  those 
who  have  access  to  the  older  English  divines 
will  find  that  questions  of  casuistry,  spiritual 
troubles,  evidences  of  grace,  &c.,  are  discussed 
Avith  great  ability,  and  are  made  far  more  pro- 
minent and  important  in  them  than  they  are 
in  the  theological  works  of  times  more  modern. 
The  writings  of  the  Rev.  Timothy  Rogers, 
several  times  quoted  in  the  ensuing  pages, 
are  peculiarly  instructive  to  persons  labouring 
under  spiritual  distress,  as  having  been  dic- 
tated by  his  own  experience.     Those  who  can- 


12  PREFACE. 

not  get  this  rare  book  will  find  a  choice 
sample  of  its  connscls  in  the  fourth  chapter  of 
Dr.  Archibald  Alexander's  "Thoughts  on  Re- 
ligious Experience."  From  this  interesting 
work,  as  well  as  from  the  "Discourse  of  Mr. 
Rogers  on  Trouble  of  Mind  and  the  Disease 
of  Melancholy,"  we  have  received  important 
aid. 

The  writer  has  been  gratified  with  the 
favour  shown  to  his  imperfect  treatise  by  the 
press,  both  secular  and  religious;  and  espe- 
cially with  testimonials,  through  private  chan- 
nels, that  it  has  proved  useful  in  ministering 
relief  to  some  of  that  class  for  whom  it  was 
principally  designed.  That  the  same  benefi- 
cent results  may  follow  this  enlarged  edition 
is  the  sincere  desire  of  the  author,  as  it  ought 
to  be  his  paramount  motive  in  preparing  it  for 
publication. 


MAN,  MORxVL  AND  PHYSICAL. 


CHAPTER   I. 

CONNECTION'    BETWEEN    THE    MATERIAL    AND    SI'IRITl'AL    PARTS    IN    MAN. 

IIow  poor,  bow  ricli,  how  fihject,  liow  august, 
IIow  complicate,  how  wonderful  is  man! — Youno. 

"I  "WILL  praise  Thee,"  says  David,  "for  I  am 
fearfully  and  wonderfully  made."  How  far 
the  Psalmist  understood  the  full  import  of  his 
words,  or  was  acquainted  with  the  wonderful 
mechanism  of  man  to  which  he  alludes,  we  do 
not  presume  to  know.  It  is  enough  to  say, 
that  the  terms  which  he  uses  are  most  appro- 
priate and  descriptive,  as  has  been  abundantly 
proved  by  the  researches  of  physiology.  But 
curious  and  fearful  as  is  the  structure  of  the 
material  part,  there  is  displayed  far  more  of  the 
wisdom  and  greatness  of  God  in  the  creation 
and  endowments  of  the  soul;  and  although  we 
are  accustomed  to  speak  familiarly  of  both,  as 

9 


14  INFLUENCE   OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

if  they  were  well  understood,  yet  there  is 
scarcely  a  term  which  we  employ  which  is  not 
rather  a  symbol  of  what  we  do  not  know,  than 
an  exponent  of  what  we  do.  The  mystery  of 
the  Trinity  is  not  more  inexplicable  than  is 
the  connection  that  subsists  between  the  body 
and  the  soul  of  man.  The  most  that  we  know 
of  either,  is  derived  from  the  results  which 
flow  from  such  an  union.  As  we  infer  the 
being  and  co-operation  of  the  three  persons  in 
the  Godhead,  from  the  nature  and  the  benefits 
of  redemption,  by  which  this  triune  existence 
is  implied,  so  we  become  assured  that  we  have 
a  spirit  as  well  as  a  body,  from  their  acts  or 
motions,  which  we  feel.  We  know  nothing  of 
the  substance  of  which  either  is  composed,  nor 
of  the  mode  in  which  the  two  are  linked 
together.  The  attempts  of  science  to  reach 
and  explain  these  ultimate  facts,  have  not 
amounted  to  even  an  approximation.  What- 
ever has  been  written  concerning  the  locality 
of  the  soul,  the  time  of  its  entrance  into  the 
body,  the  mode  by  which  it  acts  upon  or 
governs  it,  and  the  avenue  through  which  it 


ON    RKl.KIKH'S    EXPERIENCE.  15 

escapes  at  death,  is  but  little  more  than  specu- 
lation and  conjecture.  ])r.  Abercrombie  says, 
"we  talk  about  matter,  and  we  talk  about 
mind;  we  speculate  concerning  materiality  and 
immateriality,  until  we  argue  ourselves  into  a 
kind  of  belief  that  we  understand  something  of 
the  subject.  The  truth  is,  that  we  understand 
nothing."  AVe  really  know  but  little  more 
than  a  few  facts  in  relation  to  both,  whicli  are 
dscoverable  by  their  respective  qualities  and 
attributes;  such  as  that  the  two  are  closely 
united;  that  what  is  called  the  nervous  system 
is  the  medium  of  communication  between  them ; 
so  that  they  exert  a  strong  reciprocal  influence 
upon  each  other ;  that  when  the  one  is  afflicted, 
it  always  has  the  s)inpathy  of  the  other.  They, 
therefore,  have  been  employed  more  wisely, 
who,  leaving  the  former  as  among  the  inscru- 
table things  of  God,  have  endeavoured  to  make 
a  practical  improvement  of  the  latter.  It  is  a 
subject  that  so  intimately  blends  with  all  that 
conduces  to  the  enjoyment  and  usefulness  of 
life,  as  well  as  its  continuance,  that  it  is  of  the 
highest  importance  for  all  to  understand  it,  and 


16  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND   DISEASE 

to  none  is  snch  knowledge  more  needful  than 
to  the  official  teachers  of  religion. 

It  is  proposed  at  this  time  to  offer  a  few 
thoughts  on  this  interesting  topic,  more  with  a 
view  to  awaken  the  attention,  and  invite  the 
pen  of  others,  than  to  furnish  all  that  is  needed. 
Indeed,  such  a  work  as  the  exigency  of  the 
Church  has  long  demanded,  is  not  likely  to  be 
accomplished  by  "any  one  who  is  not  furnished 
with  a  suitable  education,  theological  and  medi- 
cal, profoundly  and  experimentally  acquainted 
with  the  Scriptures,  fond  of  research,  and  gifted 
with  good  powers  of  generalization  and  induc- 
tion." 

For  those  who  wish  to  pursue  the  subject  in 
its  pathological  bearings,  or  as  one  of  the  de- 
partments of  physiology,  there  are  numerous 
medical  treatises,  both  domestic  and  foreign, 
which  are  easily  accessible.  What  we  have  to 
offer  in  the  following  chapters  is  little  more 
than  the  result  of  some  observation,  and  the 
few  years'  experience  of  a  pastor.  It  is  in- 
tended to  furnish,  in  a  portable  form  and  size, 
a  tract  for  the  benefit  of  Christians  of  an  un- 


ON    RELKIIOUS    EXPERIENCE.  17 

equal  and  fluctuating  experience,  produced  by 
physical  causes,  though  not  suspected  perliaps 
by  themselves,  nor  their  spiritual  advisers. 

It  has  already  been  said,  that  much  that 
pertains  to  the  nature  of  the  connection  be- 
tween tlie  flesh  and  the  spirit  is  a  mystery 
which  science  has  tried  in  vain  to  explore.  It 
has  proceeded  so  far  as  to  discover  in  the  human 
fabric,  certain  delicate  white  threads,  leading 
from  the  brain  and  spinal  marrow  to  every  part 
of  the  body.  It  has  also  been  ascertained  that 
by  means  of  these  nerves  (as  they  are  called 
from  the  Latin  term  nervus^  a  string)  sensations 
are  conveyed  from  each  of  the  organs  of  sense 
to  the  brain ;  moreover,  that  these  are  the  chan- 
nels of  communication  between  the  mind  and 
the  body,  as  is  proved  by  the  well-known  fact, 
that  if  one  of  the  nerves  of  the  arm  or  leg 
be  sundered,  all  power  of  that  limb  is  lost;  if 
another  be  cut,  sensation  is  no  longer  transmit- 
ted through  the  arm  to  the  mind.  The  branches 
and  ramifications  of  the  nerves  are  so  numerous 
and  so  generally  diffused,  that  they  have  a  vir- 
tual omnipresence  throughout  the  animal  fabric. 


18  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

Though  diminishing  in  size  as  they  approach 
their  places  of  termination,  so  that  at  length 
they  become  invisible  to  the  naked  eye,  yet 
they  lose  none  of  their  exquisite  sensibility. 
The  point  of  the  finest  needle  cannot  be 
brought  into  contact  with  the  skin  in  any  part 
of  the  body  without  detecting  the  presence  of 
a  nerve.  The  sensation  caused  by  ever  so  deli- 
cate a  touch  upon  the  most  attenuated  branch 
is  imparted  to  a  larger,  then  to  a  larger  still, 
and  with  electric  rapidity  to  all;  so  that  the 
remotest  part  is  instantly  conscious  of  the  im- 
pression. This  kind  of  correlation,  by  which 
different  organs  of  the  body  are  affected  by 
impressions  made  upon  one,  through  the  com- 
merce of  the  nerves,  is  called  "sympathy." 
This  mysterious  intercourse  is  rendered  more 
complete  and  effective  by  the  agency  of  the 
intercostal  or  "sympathetic  nerve,"  which,  pass- 
ing through  the  innumerable  branches  and 
plexuses,  is  the  common  channel  of  communi- 
cating with  them  all.  Such  is  that  fearful  and 
wonderful  department  of  the  human  economy 
called  the  Nervous  System — the  great  organ  of 


ON    UKLMilOUS    EXPEUIENCK.  10 

thonglit,  feeling,  and  voluntaiy  motion.  How 
much,  then,  must  the  enjoyment  of  life,  as  well 
as  its  usefulness,  depend  on  its  healthful  condi- 
tion! Nor  is  it  the  least  wonderful  of  the 
whole,  when  we  examine  into  the  Aarious 
functions  of  the  nerves,  and  the  perpetual  irri- 
tations and  violence  to  which  they  are  ex- 
posed, that  the  nervous  economy  is  not  more 
frequently  deranged  than  it  is. 

Anatomists  tell  us,  that  when  these  little 
threads  become  diseased,  there  is  no  percep- 
tible change  in  their  size,  shape,  colour,  nor 
appearance.  Even  when  the  power  of  trans- 
mitting sensation  is  lost,  nutrition  still  goes  on, 
and  the  nerves  remain  as  large  in  a  paralyzed  as 
in  a  healthy  limb.  Before  a  patient  dies,  they 
resist  mortification  longer  than  most  parts  of 
the  body,  and,  after  death,  decay  more  slowly. 
This  explains,  in  part,  how  it  is  that  nervous 
diseases,  which  are  often  so  prolonged,  do  not 
more  impair  the  physical  strength,  nor  seem  to 
abridge  the  life  of  the  sufferer. 

With  respect  to  the  actual  nature  of  the 
nervous  force,  we  offer  no  opinion,  nor  quote 


20  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

the  conjectures  of  others.  The  notion  that 
obtained  for  a  while  among  some  physiologists, 
that  it  was  identical  with  the  electric  power, 
has  been  generally  abandoned  in  the  present 
day.  In  what  way,  therefore,  this  communica- 
tion between  the  brain,  the  spinal  marrow,  and 
the  nerves  is  effected;  how  the  volitions  and 
conceptions  of  the  mind  are  conveyed  on  these 
delicate  material  conductors — whether  by  tre- 
mors or  vibrations,  like  the  cords  of  a  musical 
instrument,  or,  as  Hippocrates  and  Galen  sup- 
posed, by  a  fine  ethereal  fluid,  elaborated  in  the 
organ  of  the  brain,  or  by  neither — what  is  their 
specific  substance  or  construction,  by  which 
they  are  made  not  only  vehicles  of  thought, 
but  instruments  of  exquisite  pleasure  or  pain, 
are  among  the  questions  that  have  been  a  con- 
stant source  of  hypothesis  in  past  ages,  but 
which  neither  reason  nor  revelation  has  an- 
swered. It  is  quite  probable  that  neither  our 
happiness  nor  our  usefulness  would  be  in- 
creased by  a  knowledge  of  the  essence  of  mind 
and  matter,  and  that  enough  is  known  from 
their  various  phenomena  to  answer  every  prac- 


ON    RELIGIOUS    EXRERIENCE.  21 

tical  purpose.  AVith  that  class  of  them  whicli 
we  are  about  to  consider,  the  world  of  course 
have  been  more  or  less  familiar  ever  since  the 
fall  subjected  man  to  disease,  and  made  tlic 
earthly  part  a  clog,  while  it  gave  it  such 
ascendency  over  the  heavenly.  But  in  regard 
to  those  morbid  results  of  this  connection, 
which  are  technically  called  "nervous,"  it  has 
frequently  been  said,  that,  to  a  great  extent, 
they  are  a  penalty  for  an  abuse  of  the  multi- 
plied blessings  of  civilized  life.  Among  savage 
tribes,  such  affections  are  scarcely  known,  and 
they  are  very  rare  among  those  whose  pursuits 
are  active,  and  connected  with  habitual  expo- 
sure. But  they  seem  to  have  increased  just  in 
proportion  as  nations  have  advanced  in  out- 
ward prosperity  and  in  intellectual  refinement. 
Hence  it  is  easily  understood  why  medicine  was 
no  more  diligently  cultivated  among  the  an- 
cients, and  how  it  happened  that  the  first  phy- 
sician of  eminence,  who  has  been  called  the 
"father  of  medicine,"  should  have  lived  within 
less  than  five  hundred  years  before  Christ.  In 
the  early  ages  of  the  world,  there  was  compara- 
tively little   occasion  for  a  profession   that    is 


i:l  influence  of  health  and  disease 

now  so  highly  honoured,  and  which  is  so  indis- 
pensable to  the  health  and  happiness  of  society. 
The  simplicity  of  manners  which  prevailed, 
plainness  of  diet,  temperance,  and  activity  in 
rural  occupations,  were  productive  of  a  degree 
of  health  and  vigour  which  are  hardly  known 
at  present.  How  for  the  great  age  of  man, 
until  shortened  by  a  divine  decree,  was  the 
result  of  natural  causes,  we  do  not  presume  to 
say;  but  the  progress  of  the  healing  art  has 
marked,  with  a  good  degree  of  accuracy,  in 
successive  ages,  the  increase  of  luxury  and  ex- 
cessive sensual  indulgence. 

"Had  it  not  been,"  Dr.  Cheyne  says,  "for 
the  lewdness,  luxury,  and  intemperate  gratifi- 
cation of  the  passions  and  appetites  which  first 
ruined  and  spoiled  the  constitution  of  the 
fathers,  whereby  they  could  communicate  only 
a  diseased,  crazy,  and  untunable  carcass  to 
their  sons,  there  had  never  happened  so  much 
sickness,  pain,  and  misery,  so  unhappy  lives, 
and  such  wretched  ends,  as  we  now  behold 
among  men."  The  records  of  prisons  and 
almshouses  prove  that  physical  vices  are  not 
only  perpetuated  in  the  off'spring  of  the  guilty 


ON    RKIKJIOUS    EXTERIENCE.  23 

parent,  but  they  originate  mental  deformities. 
Three-fourths  of  the  idiotic  in  a  Massachusetts' 
Charity  were  found  to  be  of  parents,  one  or 
both  of  wliom  were  drunken.  From  an  cxami- 
tion  of  juvenile  dehnqucnts  at  Parkhurst,  by 
Mr.  Kay  Shuttleworth,  it  appeared  that  the 
majority  were  foimd  deficient  in  physical  or- 
ganization. Mr.  Coleridge  says,  that  the  history 
of  a  man  for  the  months  tliat  precede  his  birth, 
would  probably  be  far  more  interesting,  and 
contain  events  of  greater  moment  than  all  that 
follow  it. 

I.    THE  SACRED  WRITINGS. 

That  these  should  furnisli  but  little  instruc- 
tion on  the  subject  of  the  present  discussion, 
liowevcr  important  to  so  large  a  proportion 
of  modern  believers,  is  easily  accounted  for. 
This  has  fallen  rather  within  the  province  of 
that  science  whicli  has  grown  out  of  the 
changed  circumstances  of  man,  especially  the 
great  degeneracy  in  his  habits  of  living.  But 
wliile  we  discover  in  the  Bible  comparatively 
few  of  the  elements  of  many  modern  theories 


\ 


24  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

concerning  this  union  of  the  son!  and  body, 
and  the  moral  results,  yet  they  contain  records 
of  the  experience  and  exercises  of  the  reli- 
gious, and  of  others,  which  afford  many  exem- 
plifications of  the  fact.  Such  is  supposed  by 
some  to  have  been  the  distressing  affection 
of  Saul,  ascribed  to  an  evil  spirit  from  God., 
the  successive  paroxysms  of  which  were  allayed 
by  the  music  of  the  son  of  Jesse,  Stackhouse 
thinks,  that  it  proceeded  from  deep  depression 
of  spirits,  or  black  bile  inflamed,  and  that 
he  was  rather  hypochondriac  than  possessed. 
Agreeable  to  this  bad  complexion  of  body,  was 
the  natural  temper  of  his  mind. 

Another  example  is  quoted  in  the  case  of 
the  Psalmist  himself,  when,  in  one  of  his  sacred 
songs,  his  harp  is  tuned  to  strains  of  the  deepest 
melancholy,  and  he  mournfully  sings:  Mij  soul 
refused  to  he  comforted.  I  remembered  God, 
and  ivas  troubled;  I  complained,  and  m^/  spirit 
ivas  overwhelmed:  I  am  so  troidjled  that  I  cannot 
speak.  Will  the  Lord  cast  off  for  ever?  and 
will  he  he  favourable  no  more?  Is  his  mercy 
clean  gone  for  ever?     Hath  God  forgotten  to  he 


ON    RKIJCIOV'S    KXI'KniENCK 


gracious?  And  then  he  adds,  I  said  this  is  my 
injirmiiy;  an  expression  wliicli  means,  as  under- 
stood by  some,  that  he  suspects  the  cause  of  his 
great  depression  to  be  physical,  or  to  proceed 
from  the  state  of  the  body. 

Another  illustration  of  this  connection,  and 
the  influence  of  the  material  part  over  the 
spiritual,  has  been  drawn  from  the  language  of 
the  Saviour  in  his  gentle  rebuke  of  the  lethargy 
of  the  disciples  in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane. 
Tliat  they  should  have  fallen  asleep  under  such 
circumstances,  appeared  to  themselves  to  admit 
of  no  apology,  and  they  did  not  attempt  it. 
But  on  being  awaked  by  their  Master,  ho 
kindly  remarked,  the  spirit  is  idlling^  hut  the 
flesh  is  weak'.  The  delinquency  was  to  be 
ascribed,  not  so  much  to  the  state  of  their 
heart,  as  to  bodily  fatigue ;  implying,  as  is  com- 
monly understood,  a  mild  reproof,  at  the  same 
time  that  it  evinces  the  disposition  of  Christ 
to  regard  it  as  evidence  more  of  natural  in- 
firmity than  of  guilt.  The  same  injurious 
influence  of  the  earthly  part  is  recognized  by 
the  apostle  Paul,  in  those  numerous  passages 
3 


2G  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

of  his   writings   in  which   he    so  .graphically 
describes  the  conflict  between  the  flesh  and  the 
spirit:  I  know  that  in  me^  that  is,  in  my  flesh., 
there  dwelleth  no  good  thing.     I  delight  in  the 
law  of  God,  after  the  inner  man,  hut  I  see  another 
law  in  my  members  ivarring  against  the  law  of 
my  mind,  bringing  me,  &.c.     In  another  place,  he 
ascribes  the  inability  of  the  law  to  justify,  not 
to  itself,  but  to  a  weakness  through  the  flesh. 
We  are  aware  that  the  term  flesh  here  is  used 
in  a  figurative  sense,  to  signify  the  remainder 
of  natural  corruption  which  still  adheres  to  the 
man,  even  after   his  moral   state  has   become 
changed  by  regenerating  grace.     But  the  pas- 
sages are  none  the  less  suited  to  our  purpose, 
inasmuch  as  they  imply  that  the  organs  of  sense 
are  made  the  instruments   through  which  the 
corruption  of  our  nature  is  developed,  and  its 
operation  felt  upon  the  spiritual  man.     In  this 
connection,    it    may    be    observed,    that    the 
writings  of  the  Fathers  contain  numerous  quo- 
tations from  the  serious  minded  heathen,  that 
show  a  striking  coincidence  with  the  opinions 
of  Paul  on  the  subject  of  depravity,  and  espe- 


()\    UKMOIOUS    EXPERIENCE.  27 

cially  the  prejudicial  influence  of  the  body. 
Cicero's  remark  is  famiUar  to  many — that  men 
are  brought  into  Hfe  by  nature,  as  a  stop- 
mother,  with  a  frail  and  infirm  body,  witli  a 
soul  prone  to  divers  lusts.  And  what  but  this 
doctrine  of  physical  influence  is  perverted  and 
caricatured  in  that  motley  mixture  of  Chris- 
tianity and  Persian  philosophy  contained  in  the 
system  of  the  Manicheans  of  the  third  century  of 
the  Christian  era,  concerning  the  two  principles 
of  good  and  evil — the  former  of  which  is  repre- 
sented as  the  creator  of  the  soul  of  man,  and 
the  latter  of  his  body. 

II.    THE  TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE. 

If  what  the  Scriptures  contain  on  this  sub- 
ject amounts  only  to  hints  or  implications, 
rather  than  positive  declarations,  our  light  is 
abundant  when  we  come  to  the  testimony  of 
science.  The  connection  and  influence  of 
which  we  speak,  have  been  proved  and  illus- 
trated with  great  clearness  by  those  who  have 
examined  the  structure  of  the  human  system, 
its  capacities  and  functions,  organic,  intellect- 
ual, and  moral.     Thcv  ha^•e  not  failed  to  see 


28  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AN«    DISEASE 

how  much  the  state  of  the  mind  and  moral 
feehngs  has  to  do  with  the  induction,  the  per- 
sistence, and  final  issue  of  many  maladies. 
This  connection  is  as  fully  implied  in  the 
abuses  of  this  truth,  as  it  is  taught  in  its  legi- 
timate uses.  Thus  it  has  been  made  to  furnish 
the  basis  of  materialism  under  the  milder,  and, 
as  understood  and  taught  by  many,  the  inno- 
cent forms  of  cranioscopy,  craniology,  phreno- 
logy, «S:c.,  as  well  as  of  that  grosser  system  of 
Lawrence,  wliich  makes  the  soul  of  man  a  mere 
chymical  combination,  which  contends  that  it 
is  not  a  spiritual  substance,  distinct  from  his 
body,  but  that  the  principle  within  him  which 
thinks,  is  material;  and  that  reasoning  and  re- 
flection are  functions  of  organized  matter; 
which  gravely  tells  him  that  he  grows  like  a 
vegetable,  or  accretes  like  a  crystal;  or  is  at- 
tracted and  repulsed  like  a  particle  of  iron 
exposed  to  magnetic  influence:  That  his  brain 
secretes  thought,  as  his  liver  secretes  bile;  that 
believing  and  disbelieving  are  acts  of  the  soul, 
as  is  tasting  of  the  body,  and  one  is  as  destitute 
of  any  moral  character  as  the  other;  and  there- 
fore, that   it  is    as  absurd   to    suppose   a  man 


(»\    UKLKilOL'S    EXPERIENCE.  29 

blamablo  for  bciiiii:  an  atheist,  as  for  bein<r 
afflicted  with  an  attack  of  the  gout.  Tliat  or- 
ganized differs  from  inorganized  matter,  merely 
by  the  addition  of  certain  properties,  such  as 
sensibihty  and  irritability,  which  are  called  vital. 
The  masses  of  matter  which  constitute  the 
several  parts  of  the  animal  frame  are  endowed 
according  to  the  respective  functions  or  pur- 
poses which  they  are  to  execute,  and  life  is  the 
general  result  of  their  exercise.  Upon  this 
hypothesis,  the  human  frame  is  nothing  more 
than  "a  barrel-organ,  possessing  a  systematic 
arrangement  of  parts,  played  upon  by  peculiar 
powers,  and  executing  particular  pieces  or  pur- 
poses. Life  is  the  music  produced  by  the 
general  assemblage,  or  result  of  the  harmonious 
action.  As  long  as  either  the  vital  or  mechani- 
cal instrument  is  wound  up  by  a  regular  supply 
of  food,  or  of  the  winch,  so  long  the  music  will 
continue;  but  both  are  worn  out  by  their  own 
action;  and  when  the  machine  will  no  longer 
work,  the  life  has  the  same  close  as  the  music ; 

reJit  in  nibilum,  quod  fuit  ante  nihil. 


That,  back  to  nothing  goes,  vrbich  nothing  was  before. 

3* 


30  INFLUEx\CK    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

That  such  sentiments  as  these  are  as  directly 
at  variance  with  sound  science  as  they  are  with 
revealed  religion,  it  is  gratuitous  to  assert.  In 
admitting,  as  we  have  done,  that  this  inexplica- 
ble union  of  the  body  and  soul  may  involve 
many  truths  which  have  not  yet  been  discover- 
ed, we  do  not  concede  that  it  warrants  any  such 
atheistic  corollaries  as  this.  It  would  be  easy 
to  show,  that  although  commended  by  names 
of  some  notoriety,  yet  such  a  materialism  is 
"a  logical  absurdity,  and  a  total  misconception 
of  the  first  principles  of  philosophical  inquiry." 
But  as  it  is  our  purpose  in  this  disquisition  to 
keep  within  the  province  of  Christian  casuistry, 
we  think  it  better,  in  passing,  rather  to  hint  at 
than  quote,  as  freely  as  we  might,  the  illustra- 
tions of  the  present  head,  which  are  furnished 
by  physiology.  Yet  all  may  safely  be  granted 
to  the  influence  of  the  flesh  upon  the  spirit, 
which  truth  requires,  without  affording  the 
smallest  ground  for  those  shocking  conclu- 
sions. 

The  great  vital  organs  of  the  human  system, 
such    as   the    brain,   stomach,  liver,  «S:c.,   may 


ON    UELUilOL'S    KXl'EKIKNCE.  31 

seem  to  act  as  mechanically  as  the  hand,  the 
ear,  or  the  tongue,  yet  the  health  of  the  mind 
is  much  affected  by  the  healthful  state  of  this 
apparatus  of  the  body.     Notice,  first. 

The  Brain.  We  know  and  admit,  that  the 
operations  of  the  intellect  are  closely  allied  to 
that  soft  whitish  mass,  or  viscus,  lodged  be- 
neath the  arched  bone  of  the  head,  which  is 
called  the  brain.  Thus  a  blow  which  depresses 
a  portion  of  the  skull  upon  the  brain,  will  cause 
a  derangement  or  suspension  of  the  mind's  ope- 
rations until  such  pressure  is  removed.  A  man 
at  the  battle  of  Waterloo  had  a  small  portion 
of  his  skull-bone  beat  in  upon  the  brain,  to  the 
depth  of  half  an  inch.  This  caused  volition 
and  sensation  to  cease,  and  he  was  nearly  in  a 
lifeless  state.  So  soon  as  the  depressed  portion 
of  bone  was  raised  from  the  brain,  the  man 
immediately  arose,  dressed  himself,  became  per- 
fectly rational,  and  recovered  rapidly. 

It  has  been  discovered  that  whatever  pro- 
duces mental  excitement,  increases  the  flow  of 
blood  to  the  head,  and  thus  augments  the  size 
and  power  of  the  brain;  just  as  exertion  of  the 


32  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

limbs  enlarges  and  strengthens  their  muscles. 
Sir  Astley  Cooper  had  a  patient  whose  skull 
was  so  imperfect  as  to  enable  him  to  examine 
the  movements  of  the  brain.  "  I  distinctly 
saw,"  Sir  Astley  says,  "  that  the  pulsation  of 
the  brain  was  regular  and  slow;  but  at  this 
time  he  was  agitated  by  some  opposition  to  his 
wishes,  and  directly  the  blood  was  sent  with 
increased  force  to  his  brain,  and  the  pulsations 
became  frequent  and  violent." 

A  case  more  interesting  still,  mentioned  by 
Dr.  Caldwell,  was  a  female  who  had  lost  a 
large  portion  of  the  skull  and  dura  mater  by 
disease.  When  she  was  in  a  dreamless  sleep, 
her  brain  was  motionless ;  when  her  sleep  was 
imperfect,  and  disturbed  by  dreams,  her  brain 
protruded  from  the  cranium.  In  vivid  dreams, 
reported  as  such  by  herself,  the  protrusion  was 
considerable;  and  when  perfectly  awake,  espe- 
cially if  engaged  in  active  thought,  or  sprightly 
conversation,  it  was  much  greater. 

It  is  known  that  the  brain  of  an  adult  of 
ordinary  intellect  is  comparatively  large,  weigh- 
ing about  three  and  a  half  pounds,  often  a  little 


ON    ItKLKilOl  S    EXPERIENCK.  33 

less.  Ill  some  persons  of  uncommon  mind,  it 
has  been  known  to  be  much  greater.  The 
brain  of  Dyron,  for  instance,  is  said  to  have 
weighed  four  and  a  half  pounds,  and  that  of 
Baron  Cuvier  four  pounds  thirteen  ounces  and 
a  half.  On  the  other  hand,  the  brain  of  an 
idiot  does  not  exceed  in  size  that  of  a  child  a 
year  old,  or  between  one  and  two  pounds  in 
weight.  It  has  been  proved  by  measurement, 
that  the  heads  of  great  thinkers  frequently  con- 
tinue to  increase  until  the  subjects  are  fifty 
years  of  age,  and  long  after  the  other  portions 
of  the  system  have  ceased  to  enlarge.  This 
was  true  of  Bonaparte,  whose  head,  though 
small  in  youth,  in  after  life  became  enormous. 
The  reverse  is  known  to  occur  in  cases  of  pro- 
tracted insanity;  not  only  the  brain  diminishes, 
but  the  skull  itself  has  often  sensibly  contract- 
ed, as  is  mentioned  of  Dean  Swift,  who,  in  the 
latter  part  of  his  life,  sunk  into  a  state  of  men- 
tal imbecility,  a  distressing  calamity,  of  which 
he  appears  to  have  had  a  presentiment,  having 
predicted  "  tliat  he  would  first  die  at  top." 
It  is  vain   then  to  deny  that   this  wonder- 


34  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

ful  part  of  the  body  has  much  to  do  with  the 
manifestations  of  mind,  though  we  know  of  no 
warrant  for  the  strange  conceit  of  the  older 
physiologists,  that  there  is  some  central  spot  in 
that  organ  where  all  the  messages  of  the  nerves 
are  ultimately  reported,  and  whence  all  the 
orders  of  the  will  are  issued ;  or  for  the  figment 
of  Descartes,  that  the  peculiar  seat  of  the  mind 
is  the  pineal  gland.  Nor  is  it  incredible,  that 
a  difierent  combination  of  the  physical  ele- 
ments of  the  man  may  occasion  a  corresponding 
difference  in  the  character  and  qualities  of  the 
mind ;  that  a  genius  for  poetry  or  mathematics, 
for  painting  or  music,  may  be  connected  with 
a  peculiar  arrangement  or  disposition  of  some 
particles  in  the  animal  economy ;  in  other  words, 
that  the  earthen  vessel  is  so  constructed  in  some 
particulars,  which  escape  the  eye  of  the  anato- 
mist, as  to  form  a  different  mould,  or  give  a 
peculiar  shape  to  the  mind,  according  to  the 
sphere  of  usefulness  for  which  it  is  designed  by 
its  Creator.  All  this  may  be  true,  and  not  con- 
flict with  the  teachings  of  revelation.  Indeed, 
for  aught  we  know  to  the  contrary,  it  is  com- 


ox    RELIQJOUS    EXPKnTENrK.  34 

prelicndccl  in  what  the  Psahnist  calls  the  "  fear- 
ful and  wonderful"  construction  of  man.  But 
in  what  way  the  power  of  thought  is  originated, 
or  how  it  is  affected  by  the  matter  in  which  it 
seems  to  be  lodged,  is  perhaps  as  profound  a 
secret  to  Gabriel  as  it  is  to  us;  while  the  facts 
by  which  the  truth  itself  is  demonstrated,  are, 
many  of  them,  as  affecting  as  they  are  familiar. 
Is  the  body  attacked  and  prostrated  by  disease, 
it  is  sure  of  tlie  sympathy  of  its  spiritual  part- 
ner, which  is  often  reduced  to  the  feebleness  of 
infancy  by  the  debility  of  the  former.  Its  per- 
ceptions become  obtuse,  the  memory  fails,  the 
power  of  attention  is  gone,  as  we  are  often 
painfully  admonished  by  discovering  that  the 
conversation  and  counsels  which  were  given  to 
the  sick,  tlieir  confessions,  and  promises,  and 
prayers,  are  all  forgotten  on  their  recovery. 
Perhaps  it  is  not  recollected  even,  that  we 
were  once  at  their  bedside  and  addressed  them. 
But  the  connection  is  not  less  intimate  be- 
tween the  mind  and 

The  Stomach.    "Whether  this  sympathy  takes 
place  through  the  medium  of  the  blood-vessels. 


3G  IXTLUKXCK    OF    IIEAT/ni    AND    DISEASE 

the  nerves,  or  both,  we  do  not  know.  Nothing 
is  made  more  familiar  by  experience  than  the 
fact,  that  tlie  vigorous  action  of  the  former 
depends,  in  a  great  degree,  upon  the  sound 
condition  of  the  latter.  Some  assert  that  the 
brain,  as  the  common  sensorium  to  which  all 
sensations  are  ultimately  referred,  is  the  first 
to  become  sensible  to  the  disorder  of  the  sto- 
mach. That,  "like  two  friends  in  harmonious 
co-operation,  they  mutually  support  each  other 
in  health;  but,  in  disease,  like  sworn  enemies, 
they  act  and  react  upon  each  other  with  the 
most  destructive  malignity."  Who  has  not  ob- 
served, without  the  aid  of  books  or  physicians 
to  suggest  it,  that  whatever  painfully  affects 
his  mind,  and  disturbs  its  equanimity,  takes 
away  his  appetite  for  food,  or  the  power  to 
digest  it,  and  causes  more  or  less  disquietude 
in  the  stomach.  For  this  reason,  a  strong  ex- 
citement of  the  mind  is  often  one  of  the  surest 
remedies  for  this  uneasiness.  No  man,  per- 
haps, ever  had  an  appetite  for  food  under  the 
full  influence  of  the  depressing  passions,  such 
as  fear  or  grief.     He  may  eat  from  persuasion, 


ON    REI.KITOT'S    EXPERTKNOE.  .1/ 

or  from  a  sense  of  duty,  but  he  eats  without 
desire  or  a  craving  sense  of  hunger.  Hence, 
those  wlio  are  suddenly  deprived  of  their  senses 
by  an  ovcrwhehning  and  unexpected  evil,  pass 
days  and  nights  without  food  of  any  kind,  each 
sufferer  feeling  with  King  Lear, 

When  the  mind's  free 
The  body's  delicate:  the  tempest  in  my  mind 
Doth  from  my  senses  take  all  feeling  else 
Save  what  beats  there. 

Dr.  Brigham  says:  "One  day,  when  about 
to  sit  down  to  dinner,  with  an  appetite  whetted 
by  five  or  six  hours'  exercise,  a  letter  was  put 
into  my  hands  announcing  the  death  of  a  friend 
to  whom  I  felt  strongly  attached.  The  conse- 
quence was  an  instantaneous  loss  of  appetite, 
which  continued  for  two  or  three  days."  A 
stern  look,  and  a  very  few  reproachful  words 
from  Henry  VIII.  gave  the  ambitious  Woolsey 
a  fit  of  indigestion  which  destroyed  the  Cardi- 
nal's life. 

The  stomach,  in  its  turn,  reacts  upon  the 
mind,  causing  confusion  of  thought,  defect  of 
memory,  and  of  the  power  of  abstraction — not 
4 


88  INFLUENCE   OE    HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

to  mention  despondency,  irascibility,  and  other 
kinds  of  morbid  mental  disturbance,  by  which 
the  sufferer  is  made  ineffably  wretched.  Hence 
dyspepsia,  that  malady  so  Protean  in  it^  forms, 
once  generally  thought  to  be  a  disease  origi- 
nating always  in  the  stomach,  is  now  considered 
by  many  of  the  most  intelligent  of  the  faculty 
as  primarily  a  disease  of  the  brain  and  nervous 
system,  perpetuated  by  mental  excitement,  espe- 
cially in  the  case  of  students.  Thus  it  has  been 
observed,  that  persons  who  are  in  the  habit 
of  strongly  employing  their  mental  faculties 
shortly  after  taking  food,  are  more  or  less  sub- 
ject to  this  affection.  In  such  a  case,  the  nerv- 
ous energy  required  for  the  process  of  digestion, 
instead  of  being  expended  upon  the  stomach,  is 
wasted  upon  the  intellectual  organs.  Aristotle 
informs  us  that  all  the  great  men  of  his  time 
were  hypochondriacs ;  that  "  they  had  cultiva- 
ted their  mind  at  the  expense  of  their  body." 

Nor  is  the  force  of  the  morbid  impulse  pro- 
ceeding from  the  brain  wholly  exhausted  upon 
the  stomach,  but  often  reaches  to 

The  Lungs  and  Heart — causing  diseased 


ON   RELKilOUS   EXPERIENCE.  39 

action  in  both.  The  acute  pain  sometimes  felt 
in  the  region  of  the  heart,  a  tremulous  or  flut- 
tering sensation  there,  interruptions  of  the  pulse, 
and  palpitations,  which  the  alarmed  sufferer  is 
ready  to  ascribe  to  organic  disease,  are  very 
often  symptoms  only  of  "gastric  derangement, 
which  has  been  generated  by  the  morbific  in- 
fluence of  the  mind." 

But  none  of  the  viscera  of  the  body  better 
show  its  alliance  to  the  mind,  or  illustrate  and 
establish  this  mysterious  influence  of  the  body 
on  the  mind,  than  the 

Liver.  What  arc  all  the  uses  of  this  organ 
in  the  human  economy,  is  still  a  subject  of  in- 
quiry. The  main  service  which  it  performs,  so 
far  as  is  generally  understood,  is  merely  the 
secretion  daily  of  a  few  ounces  of  bile.  But 
when  we  consider  its  dimensions — the  largest 
gland  of  any  kind  in  the  human  system — the 
number  and  size  of  its  parts,  and  its  peculiar 
structure,  we  cannot  resist  the  impression  that 
this  great  constituent  of  the  vital  mechanism 
is  used  for  a  higher  purpose  than  this.  And 
hence  the  opinion   has    obtained,  both  among 


^ 


40  INFLUENCE    OF   HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

the  ancients  and  moderns,  that  the  Hver  has  a 
powerful  influence  on  tlie  temperament,  the 
mental  functions,  and  the  passions  of  the  man, 
and  thus  affecting  his  moral  and  religious  feel- 
ings. We  presume  to  offer  no  solution  of  the 
fact,  nor  even  a  conjecture,  why  a  certain 
class  of  mental  phenomena  should  be  developed 
by  the  condition  of  this  particular  gland;  why 
the  liver  should  exhibit  its  affinities  for  that 
which  is  gloomy  and  sad,  rather  than  the  lungs 
or  heart"?  But  the  fact  is  witnessed  every 
day,  that  such  is  the  power  of  many  of  the 
depressing  passions  when  suddenly  excited,  that 
they  cause  a  gush  of  bile  into  the  system  at 
large,  which  gives  a  yellow  tinge  to  the  eye, 
and  overcasts  the  mind  with  the  most  rueful 
forebodings  and  ineffable  despondency.  Why 
it  should  cause  this  mental  dejection,  is  just  as 
inexplicable  as  is  the  hopeful,  buoyant  spirit  of 
the  hectic  patient,  whose  more  desperate  malady 
is  seated  in  his  lungs.  The  contrast  is  remark- 
able, whatever  may  be  the  cause.  While  in 
the  last  stage  of  consumption  the  sufferer  is 
cheerful  and  incredulous  as  to  the  issue  which 


ON    llKLiaiOUS    EXPERIENCE.  41 

is  SO  obvious  to  others,  the  man  lal)oiiriiii^ 
under  disease  of  the  liver  is  often  oppressed 
witli  a  lieaviness  of  heart  which  repels  relief 
from  any  suggestion  of  reason  or  the  consola- 
tions of  religion.  The  classical  reader  will 
recollect  the  frightful  story  of  the  miserable 
Tityus,  as  told  by  both  Homer  and  Virgil,  who, 
for  his  nameless  crime,  was  condemned  to  be 
eternally  tormented  by  the  preying  of  a  vulture 
upon  his  liver,  which  was  supernaturally  repro- 
duced as  fast  as  consumed. 

Rostroque  immanis  vultur  obuiico, 
Immortale  jecur  tunJens. 

A  huge  vulture,  with  his  hooky  beak, 
Pouncing  his  immortal  liver. — Davidson. 

Whether  our  poets  designed  that  fable  should 
receive  a  physiological  gloss,  and  were  prompt- 
ed, in  part,  by  their  own  morbid  experiences  or 
not,  it  is  certainly  a  most  graphic  allegory,  de- 
scriptive at  once  of  the  seat,  the  intensity,  and 
hopelessness  of  that  unspeakable  wretchedness 
which  so  often  proceeds  from  a  diseased  condi- 
tion of  this  organ.  Such  would  seem  to  have 
been  the  opinion  of  Lucretius,  who,  in  giving 
4* 


42  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

the  moral  of  various  heathen  fables,  furnishes 
the  following  interpretation  of  this,  as  trans- 
lated by  Dryden. 

No  Tityus  torn  by  Yultiires  lies  in  hell, 
Nor  could  tlie  lobes  of  bis  rank  liver  swell 
To  tbat  prodigious  mass  for  their  eternal  meal. 
But  he's  the  Tityus,  who  by  love  oppressed, 
Or  tyrant  passions  preying  on  his  breast. 
And  ever  anxious  thoughts,  is  robbed  of  rest. 

Hippocrates,  Galen,  Aretoeus,  and  other  illus- 
trious ancients,  were  accustomed  to  describe  a 
great  variety  of  mental  disease  under  the  gene- 
ral term  "melancholy,"  because  they  believed  a 
pensive  and  desponding  state  of  the  mind  to 
arise  from  a  superabundance  of  "black  bile," 
the  literal  meaning  of  the  compound  word 
"melancholy."  Others  supposed  the  hidden 
cause  of  this  mental  depression  to  be  the 

Spleen — and  hence,  "to  be  spleeny,"  as  de- 
scriptive of  the  gloomy  and  disconsolate,  has 
come  down  to  us  traditionally  as  a  saying  of 
antiquity.  What  is  the  use  of  this  spongy 
viscus  has  never  been  determined.  Dr.  Good 
says  various  hypotheses  have  been  offered  by 


ON    UELIGIOUS   EXrEllIENCE.  43 

learned  men;  but  tlicy  arc  hypotheses,  and 
nothing  more.  Archdeacon  Paley  thinks  it  is 
employed  as  needful  in  the  package  of  the 
animal  mass.  It  is  possible,  he  says,  that  the 
spleen  may  be  "  merely  a  stuffing,  a  soft  cushion 
to  fill  up  a  vacancy  or  hollow,  which,  unless 
occupied,  would  leave  the  package  loose  and 
unsteady."  The  same  opinion  concerning  the 
influence  of  the  liver  in  producing  emotions  of 
sadness  is  conveyed  in  the  word  "hypochon- 
driac," applied  by  the  ancients  to  the  melan- 
choly, and  which  has  been  domesticated  by 
the  moderns.  Every  reader  who  can  analyse 
the  term,  knows  that  it  designates  the  posi- 
tion of  this  organ,  u-o  yoi^dfjov,  under  the  car- 
tilage. Thus  the  opinion  obtained  early,  that 
by  some  mysterious  generation,  affections  of 
this  sombre  cast  were  the  offspring  of  the 
liver. 

The  writer  is  indebted  to  a  lady  of  genius, 
and  various  accomplishments  of  both  mind  and 
pei*son,  for  a  critical  remark  and  suggestion  in 
relation  to  the  subject  of  hepatic  influence,  as 
furnished    by    her    own    experience.      She   is 


44  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

favourably  known  to  the  literaiy  and  religious 
community  by  several  instructive  and  interest- 
ing works,  and  has  paid  the  common  penalty  of 
the  studious  in  those  physical  ailments  which 
are  too  often  the  price  of  their  success.  She 
had  very  soon  discovered  that  the  fluctuations 
in  her  animal  spirits,  religious  enjoyment,  and 
spiritual  exercises  generally;  the  changes  in 
her  temper,  mental  energy,  and  cheerfulness, 
to  which  she  is  painfully  subject,  were  symp- 
tomatic of  a  corresponding  change  in  the  con- 
dition of  this  sensitive  organ.  But  the  exhibi- 
tion of  some  simple  remedy,  by  which  its 
healthful  functions  are  restored,  brings  back  at 
once  her  elastic  freedom  of  thought  and  cheer- 
fulness. 

The  preceding  illustrations  of  the  close  con- 
nection between  the  spiritual  man  and  the 
material,  are  doubtless  ample  for  the  ordinary 
reader.  But  in  view  of  the  grave  moral  uses 
to  which  this  interesting  truth  is  to  be  applied 
in  our  subsequent  remarks,  we  will  presume  on 
the  reader's  indulgence  while  we  adduce  a  few 
to  exemplify  the  power  of  the  passions  as  dis- 


ON    RKLKilOUS   EXPERIENCE.  45 

turbers  of  the  healthy  action  of  our  bodies. 
Some  of  these,  it  is  known,  retard  the  circu- 
lation of  the  blood,  wliich,  on  the  contrary, 
is  accelerated  by  opposite  emotions  that  are 
stronger  and  more  vigorous.  Who  has  failed 
to  notice  how  the  heart  palpitates,  and  the 
"pulse  gallops,"  when  the  mind  is  excited  by 

LoYE.  When  Antiochus  the  Syrian  was  ill  of 
an  occult  disease  which  threatened  his  life,  the 
cause  of  it  was  undiscoverable  until  betrayed  to 
his  physicians  by  their  observing  that  his  pulse 
suddenly  became  irregular  whenever  Stratonice 
entered  the  room.  It  then  appeared  that  love 
for  ]ier  was  the  cause  of  his  illness.  This  was 
immediately  told  to  his  royal  father,  who  wil- 
lingly gave  her  to  his  son,  that  his  immoderate 
passion  might  not  cause  his  death.  Not  less 
operative  is  the  influence  of 

Hope.  What  fact  is  better  established  by 
the  teachings,  as  well  as  the  experience  of  the 
medical  profession,  than  that  the  success  of 
surgical  operations,  and  the  results  of  medicine, 
are  materially  affected  by  the  hope  or  despair 
that  preponderates  in  the  mind  of  the  patient. 


46  INFLUENCE    OP    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

Surgeons  in  the  army  have  noticed  a  marked 
contrast  between  the  mortality  among  the 
wounded  of  a  victorious  and  that  of  a  con- 
quered army.  The  most  severe  and  apparently 
desperate  cases  recover  in  the  former,  while 
hospital  gangrene,  erysipelas,  typhus,  and  dysen- 
tery, usually  decimate  the  latter.  Even  the 
lighter  cases  are  comparatively  slow  in  their 
recovery,  and  imperfect  in  their  convalescence. 
After  the  great  battle  on  the  Mincio,  1859,  be- 
tween the  French  and  Sardinians  on  the  one 
side,  and  Austrians  on  the  other,  so  disastrous 
to  the  latter,  the  defeated  army  retreated,  fol- 
lowed by  the  victors.  A  description  of  the 
march  of  each  army  is  given  by  two  correspon- 
dents of  the  London  Times,  one  of  whom  travel- 
led with  the  successful  host,  the  other  with  the 
defeated.  The  differences  in  views  and  state- 
ments of  the  same  place,  scenes,  and  events,  is 
remarkable.  The  former  are  said  to  be  march- 
ing through  a  beautiful  and  luxuriant  country 
during  the  day,  and  at  night  encamping  where 
they  are  supplied  with  an  abundance  of  the 
best  provisions,  and  all  sorts  of  rural  dainties. 


ON    RELiniOT'S    EXPEUTKNCE.  47 

Tlicrc  is  nothing  of  war  about  tlic  prorccd- 
ing,  except  its  stimulus  and  excitement.  On 
the  side  of  tlio  poor  Austrians  it  is  just  tlic 
reverse.  In  his  letter  of  the  same  date,  de- 
scribing the  same  places,  and  a  march  over  the 
same  road,  the  writer  can  scarcely  find  words 
to  set  forth  the  sufferings,  impatience,  and  dis- 
gust existing  around  him.  AVhat  was  pleasant 
to  the  former  was  intolerable  to  the  latter. 
What  made  all  this  difference'?  asks  the  jour- 
nalist. "One  condition  only;  the  French  are 
victorious,  the  Austrians  have  been  defeated. 
The  contrast  may  convey  a  distinctive  idea  of 
the  extent  to  which  moral  impressions  affect 
the  efficiency  of  the  soldier." 

When  Dr.  Rush  was  asked  by  a  young  man, 
his  patient,  supposed  to  be  near  his  death  in 
consumption,  whether  he  might  learn  to  play 
on  the  flute,  the  doctor  told  him  yes,  and  at 
once  said  to  his  parents  that  he  would  get  well. 
Parke  tells  us  in  his  travels  that  one  day,  in 
his  journey  through  the  burning  desert,  ex- 
hausted with  privations  and  fatigue,  and  ready, 
as   he   supposed,   to   die,  he   chanced  at  that 


48  INFLUENCR    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

moment  to  spy  a  tiny  flower  that  had  reared 
its  head  above  the  ground.  "What!"  thought 
he — "will  that  Providence  which  has  watched 
over  this  humble  plant,  not  care  for  me,  who 
have  been  taught  to  regard  him  as  a  Father]" 
The  thought  revived  his  sinking  spirits,  and 
he  immediately  felt  both  his  strength  and  his 
resolution  to  be  greatly  invigorated.  Not  less 
potent  is  the  agency  of 

Fear.  How  much  has  been  said  of  its  inju- 
rious influence  as  predisposing  to  disease,  espe- 
cially during  the  prevalence  of  epidemics!  A 
curious  experiment  was  tried  in  Kussia  with 
four  murderers,  who  were  placed,  without  know- 
ing it,  in  separate  beds,  where  four  persons  had 
died  with  cholera.  They  slept  soundly  and 
safely,  none  of  them  taking  the  disease.  They 
were  then  put  into  beds,  on  which  they  were 
told  that  persons  had  just  died  of  malignant 
cholera.  The  beds,  however,  were  perfectly 
new,  and  had  not  been  used  at  all.  The  result 
was,  that  three  of  them  took  the  disease,  and 
died  within  four  hours. 

During  the  prevalence  of  that  appaling  epi- 


o\  nELTCK^rs  EXPFiar.NTR.  49 

domic  in  tlio  city  of  Pliiladclphia  and  vicinity, 
not  a  single  case  occurred  among  the  inmates  of 
the  Cherry  Hill  prison,  which  was  ascribed  to 
the  fact  that  the  existence  of  that  pestilence  in 
their  neighbourhood  was  effectually  concealed 
from  them  until  its  severity  had  abated.  Doubt- 
less the  freedom  of  physicians  from  fear  is  one 
of  the  main  causes  of  the  well-known  immunity 
with  which  so  many  of  them  mingle  among 
patients  sick  with  the  most  contagious  dis- 
eases. The  efficacy  of  fear  has  been  exhibited 
in  instances  of  recovery  from  complaints  which 
bade  defiance  to  every  means  that  science  could 
devise.  Both  Doctors  Batchelder  and  Rush 
mention  cases  of  gout  wliich  were  effectually 
dispelled  by  a  sudden  fright.  An  old  man 
who  for  several  years  had  suffered  an  annual 
attack  of  gout,  was  lying  in  one  of  these 
paroxysms,  when  his  son,  by  some  accident, 
drove  the  shaft  of  a  wagon  through  the  window 
of  his  room,  witli  a  terrific  noise  and  a  disas- 
trous smashing  of  the  glass.  The  shock  was 
electrifying,  and  he  leaped  from  his  bed  with 
5 


50  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

the  agility  of  a  boy,  forgetting  his  crutches  ancl 
cane,  which  were  no  longer  needed. 

By  the  same  prophylactic  aid  of  fear,  Boer- 
haave  once  relieved  a  number  of  persons  from 
epileptic  fits,  which  were  occasioned  by  witness- 
ing the  convulsions  of  others.  In  the  hearing 
of  these  patients,  he  gave  orders  that  hot  irons 
should  be  applied  to  the  first  person  who  should 
be  attacked.  The  expedient  proved  successful, 
and  not  one  opportunity  occurred  for  a  resort 
to  this  frightful  remedy.  And  who  can  doubt 
/  that  most  of  the  monomania  which  Dr.  Moore 
calls  the  fashionable  apology  for  murder,  might 
be  effectually  prevented  by  the  restraining 
agency  of  fear,  if  known  that  certain  retri- 
bution would  follow  the  crime. 

Not  long  ago  a  man  in  New  Hampshire  was 
convicted  of  murder,  committed  in  a  state  of 
partial  derangement  from  strong  drink.  Just 
before  his  execution  he  acknowledged  that  his 
punishment  was  deserved,  but  added,  that  "had 
I  known  I  should  be  hung  for  killing  the  man, 
I  would  have  let  him  alone." 

The  teachings  of  Broussais  respecting  inflam- 


ON    UELKiJOUS   EXPERIENCE.  51 

mation  of  tlie  stomach,  made  sucli  an  impres- 
sion on  the  minds,  and  so  excited  the  fears  of 
many,  we  are  tokl,  as  to  have  greatly  multi- 
plied the  cases  in  Paris  at  the  time.  Doctor 
John  Hunter  attributed  the  heart-disease,  by 
which  he  ultimately  died  in  a  fit  of  passion,  to 
his  fear  of  having  caught  hydrophobia  while 
dissecting  the  body  of  a  patient  who  died  of 
that  disease.  When  Corvisart  lectured  at  Paris 
on  the  heart,  affections  of  that  organ,  whether 
real  or  imaginary,  were  greatly  multiplied. 
lie  agrees  with  Testa,  another  writer  on  the 
same  subject,  that  the  feelings  have  great  in- 
fluence in  changing  the  natural  action  of  the 
heart,  and  producing  disorder.  The  latter  au- 
thor considered  the  powerful  and  irregular  ope- 
rations of  the  passions  as  the  most  frequent 
cause  of  organic  disease  of  the  heart;  which 
explains  why  this  complaint  was  so  much  more 
common  in  Italy  during  seasons  of  political 
agitation,  and  especially  in  France  at  the  time 
of  the  Revolution,  than  at  any  otlier  period. 
The  French  Journal  of  Medicine  records  the 
case  of  an  aged  female,  who,  from  agitation  and 


52  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

fright,  became  black  as  a  negro,  from  head  to 
foot  in  a  few  hours.  The  same  cause  whitened 
the  hair  on  half  the  head  of  a  patient  in  the 
Pennsylvania  Hospital,  and  on  the  whole  head 
of  Marie  Antoinette,  wife  of  Louis  XVI.,  in  a 
single  night. 

A  correspondent  of  the  London  Medical 
Times^  writing  from  India,  February  19,  1858, 
says  that  a  Sepoy  of  the  Bengal  army,  having 
been  made  a  prisoner,  was  brought  before  the 
authorities  for  examination.  The  man  trem- 
bled violently;  intense  horror  and  despair  were 
depicted  on  his  face,  and  he  seemed  to  be 
almost  stupified  with  fear.  The  writer,  who 
was  present,  adds,  that  within  the  space  of  half 
an  hour  his  hair  became  gray  on  every  portion 
of  his  head.  "  When  first  seen  by  us,  it  was 
the  glossy  jet-black  of  the  Bengalee;  his  age 
was  twenty-four.  The  attention  of  the  by- 
standers was  first  attracted  by  the  Sergeant, 
whose  prisoner  he  was,  exclaiming,  'he  is  turn- 
ing gray!'  and  I,  with  several  other  persons, 
watched  its  progress.  Gradually,  but  deci- 
dedly, the  change  went  on,  and  a  uniform  gray 


ON   RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  fjS 

colour  was  completed  within  the  period  above 
named." 

A  few  years  ago  two  young  men  attempted 
to  rob  an  eagle's  nest,  high  up  on  a  cliff  on  the 
bank  of  the  Hudson  river,  but  several  feet 
below  the  summit.  One  of  them  was  let  down 
in  a  basket,  suspended  by  a  rope,  till  he  came 
opposite  the  nest.  The  eagle  returned  to  pro- 
tect her  young,  and  in  endeavouring  to  defend 
himself  against  her  talons,  the  young  man  drew 
his  knife,  and  in  the  contest  accidentally  cut  all 
the  strands  of  the  rope  but  one.  Meantime  his 
companion  was  drawing  him  up  to  the  summit, 
but  he  was  so  affected  by  fear  at  his  perilous 
condition,  that  the  next  day  his  hair  became  as 
hoary  as  that  of  an  old  man. 

The  following  case  may  be  adduced,  not 
merely  for  the  illustration  of  our  subject,  but 
for  the  wholesome  warning  that  it  suggests 
against  the  vice  of  which  it  is  a  monitory  regis- 
ter. A  young  man,  twenty-three  years  old, 
came  from  the  mines  to  San  Francisco,  witli 
the  intention  of  soon  leaving  the  latter  place 
for  home.  On  the  evening  of  his  arrival,  he, 
5* 


5i  INFLUENCE   OF    HEALTH   AND    DISEASE 

with  his  companions,  visited  the  gambling  sa- 
loons. After  watching  for  a  time  the  varied 
fortunes  of  a  table,  supposed  to  be  undergoing 
the  process  of  "tapping,"  from  the  continued 
success  of  those  betting  against  the  bank,  the 
excitement  overcame  his  better  judgment,  and 
he  threw  upon  the  "seven-spot"  of  a  new  deal, 
a  bag  which  he  said  contained  eleven  hundred 
dollars — his  all — the  result  of  two  years'  priva- 
tion and  hard  labour — exclaiming,  with  a  voice 
trembling  from  intense  excitement,  "My  home, 
or  the  mines!"  As  the  dealer  slowly  resumed 
the  drawing  of  his  cards,  his  countenance,  livid 
with  fear  of  the  inevitable  fate  that  seems  ever 
attendant  upon  the  tapping  process  when  once 
commenced,  the  writer,  who  was  present,  says: 
"I  turned  my  eyes  upon  the  young  man  who 
had  staked  his  whole  gains  upon  a  card.  Never 
shall  I  forget  the  impression  made  by  his  look 
of  intense  anxiety  as  he  watched  the  cards  as 
they  fell  from  the  dealer's  hands.  All  the  ener- 
gies of  his  system  seemed  concentrated  in  the 
fixed  gaze  of  his  eyes,  while  the  deadly  pallor 
of  his  face  bespoke  the  subdued  action  of  his 


ON    RELKIIOLS    EXI'EUIENCE.  55 

heart.  All  around  seemed  infected  with  tlie 
sympathetic  powers  of  the  spell;  even  the 
hitherto  successful  winners  forgot  their  own 
stakes  in  the  hazardous  chance  placed  upon  the 
issue  of  the  bet.  The  cards  are  slowly  told 
with  the  precision  of  high-wrought  excitement. 
The  seven-spot  wins — the  spell  is  broken — re- 
action takes  place.  The  winner  exclaims,  with 
a  deep-drawn  sigh,  'I  will  never  gamble  again!' 
and  was  carried  from  the  room  in  a  deep 
swoon,  from  which  he  did  not  fully  recover 
until  the  next  morning;  and  then  to  know  that 
the  equivalent  surrendered  for  his  gain  was 
the  colour  of  his  hair,  now  changed  to  a  per- 
fect white!"  Not  less  sudden,  nor  less  calami- 
tous often,  are  the  effects  of 

Grief.  Father  Chrysostom  describes  it  as 
"a  cruel  torture  of  the  soul,  consuming  the 
body,  and  gnawing  the  very  heart."  Melanc- 
thon  says,  "it  strikes  the  heart,  makes  it  flutter 
and  pine  away  in  great  pain."  It  was  believed 
that  Philip  V.  of  Spain  died  suddenly  by  the 
breaking  of  his  heart  on  hearing  of  the  hope- 
less defeat  of  his   army  near   Plaisance.     Dr. 


56  INFLUENCE   OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

Zimmerman  states,  that  on  opening  the  king's 
body  the  heart  was  found  actually  burst;  so 
that,  as  Johnson  says,  the  vulgar  metaphorical 
expression  of  a  "broken  heart,"  is  sometimes 
pathologically  correct.  What  amazing  results 
have  followed  a  sudden  paroxysm  of 

Joy.  a  woman  in  the  city  of  New  York 
heard  that  her  husband  and  child  were  on  board 
a  ship  that  had  been  wrecked.  Accustomed  to 
go  to  the  wharf  from  day  to  day,  as  if  desirous 
of  being  nearer  the  beloved  objects  that  were 
supposed  to  be  buried  beneath  the  sea,  she  sud- 
denly beheld  them  landing  from  a  vessel  that 
had  picked  them  up.  The  joy  on  seeing  them 
safe  was  overwhelming.  After  the  first  saluta- 
tion her  reason  fled,  and  from  that  time  to  the 
present  she  has  not  known  them.  She  still 
sits  on  what  she  thinks  the  same  rock  where 
she  used  to  bewail  their  fate,  wringing  her 
hands  with  ineflfable  distress ;  while  every  week 
the  husband  and  son  visit  her,  hoping  to  find 
a  gleam  of  returning  memory,  but  in  vain. 

Sophocles,  Chile,  Juventius,  Talma,  and 
Fouquet,  are  said  to  have  died  from  the  ex- 


ON    KEhlClOUS    EXI'EIUE.NCE.  57 

citcmcnt  of  excessive  joy.  life  was  cxtin- 
jruislicd  in  a  moment  bv  a  sudden  surcharge  of 
the  brain  with  blood,  causing  apoplexy.  How 
many  have  witnessed  the  withering  power  of 

Chagrin,  or  Shame,  llev.  Daniel  Baker  tells 
the  story  of  a  young  man,  who  several  years 
agro  was  charered  before  an  ecclesiastical  court 
with  an  infamous  crime,  but;  as  he  declared 
the  imputation  to  be  slanderous,  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  investigate  the  matter,  and 
report.  "I  was  present,"  Mr.  Baker  says, 
"  when,  in  the  presence  of  two  or  three  hun- 
dred citizens,  the  report  was  made,  which 
affirmed  that  the  charge  against  him  was  true ! 
I  saw  the  man  the  moment  his  character  was 
thus  blasted  for  ever.  After  one  frantic  effort, 
with  a  pistol,  to  take  the  life  of  the  person  who 
had  thus  exposed  him,  he  dropped  his  head,  and 
could  not  bear  to  look  upon  man  or  woman  any 
more.  Soon  after  returning  to  his  lodgings, 
he  laid  himself  down  and  died.  Shame  killed 
him !"     How  mysterious  is  the  power  of 

Sympathy — which  one  describes  as  the  natu- 
ral check  that  the  Almighty  puts  upon  unchari- 


58  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

table  self.  In  spite  of  themselves,  there  are 
few  that  have  not  felt  compassion  for  others. 
This  affords  a  beautiful  proof  both  of  the  divine 
beneficence  and  of  the  power  of  the  mind  over 
the  body.  It  is  that  inexplicable  something  in 
our  moral  and  physical  structure  by  which  a 
multitude  may  be  apparently  possessed  by  the 
same  spirit;  the  organism  of  each  instanta- 
neously taking  on  the  same  action,  simply  from 
the  mind  being  devoted  to  the  same  object. 
There  is  no  part  nor  organ  of  the  body  in 
which  existing  uneasiness  may  not  be  aggra- 
vated or  relieved  according  as  the  attention  is 
directed  to  the  part  or  diverted  from  it.  "Look 
at  a  person  when  yawning — read,  or  only  think 
of  it,  and  you  begin  to  gape  yourself.  The 
wheezing  and  asthmatic  struggles  seen  on  one 
man,  have  been  known  to  produce  the  same 
symptoms  in  another.  Many  obstinate  and  dis- 
tressing coughs  have  been  aggravated  and  pro- 
longed by  the  mere  apprehension  of  their  return 
if  relieved  for  a  season."  The  physical  effects 
of  a 

MoKBiD  Imitative  Sympathy,  and  of  Imagi- 


ON    RELTCIOU.S    KXI'ERIENCK.  59 

NATION,  on  the  nervous  system,  arc  familiarly 
known.  They  have  been  displayed  in  all  the 
various  extravagancies  which,  at  times,  have 
attended  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  too 
often  impeded  its  progress.  The  phenomena  of 
this  sort  which  are  recorded  in  Dr.  Davidson's 
"History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
State  of  Kentucky,"  are  not  less  interesting  to 
the  psychologist  and  physician  than  they  are  to 
the  preacher.  They  were  occasioned,  doubtless, 
in  part,  by  an  undue  excitement  of  animal  feel- 
ing. But  the  manifold  forms,  especially  the 
"  bodily  exercises,"  by  which  this  excited  feel- 
ing was  exhibited,  have  ever  been,  to  some 
extent,  inexplicable  on  any  known  principles 
of  mental  or  physical  science.  They  were  classi- 
fied under  the  significant  names  of  the  Falling, 
Rolling,  Running,  Dancing,  Barking,  and  Jerk- 
ing exercises,  each  of  which  was  descriptive  of 
a  distinctive  sort  of  bodily  movement  or  agita- 
tion. We  select,  for  an  example,  that  muscu- 
lar convulsion  which  was  familiarly  called  the 
Jerks.  The  first  recorded  instance  of  its  occur- 
rence was  at  the  administration  of  the  Lord's 


60  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    ANT)    DISEASE 

Supper  in  East  Tennessee,  when  several  hundred 
of  both  sexes  were  affected  with  this  strange 
and  involuntary  contortion.  "The  subject  was 
instantaneously  seized  with  spasms  or  convul- 
sions in  every  muscle,  nerve,  and  tendon.  His 
head  was  jerked  or  thrown  from  side  to  side 
with  such  rapidity  that  it  was  impossible  to 
distinguish  his  visage,  and  the  most  lively  fears 
were  entertained  lest  he  should  dislocate  his 
neck,  or  dash  out  his  brains.  His  body  par- 
took of  the  same  impulse,  and  was  hurried  on 
by  like  jerks  over  every  obstacle — fallen  trunks 
of  trees,  or,  in  a  church,  over  pews  and  benches, 
apparently  to  the  most  imminent  danger  of 
being  bruised  and  mangled.  It  was  useless  to 
attempt  to  hold  or  restrain  him,  and  the 
paroxysm  was  permitted  gradually  to  exhaust 
itself.  An  additional  motive  for  leaving  him 
to  himself  was  the  superstitious  notion  that  all 
attempt  at  restraint  was  'resisting  the  Spirit  of 
God.'  One  remarkable  feature  of  these  bodily 
affections  was,  that  the  very  apprehension  of  an 
attack  would  often  bring  it  on  in  spite  of  all 
precaution  or  efforts  of  the  will  to  prevent  it. 


.-*  .'    ON   RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  61 

A  young  man,  tlic  son  of  an  elder,  who  was 
a  tanner,  feigned  sickness  on  Sabbath  morning 
to  avoid  accompanying  the  family  to  a  camp- 
meeting.  He  was  left  alone  in  bed,  with  none 
in  the  house  but  a  few  black  children.  lie 
lay  some  time  triumphing  in  the  success  of  his 
stratagem,  but  afraid  to  rise  too  soon,  lest  some 
one  might  be  accidentally  lingering,  and  detect 
him.  As  he  lay  quiet  with  his  head  covered, 
his  thoughts  were  naturally  directed  to  the 
camp-meeting,  and  fancy  painted  an  assembled 
multitude,  the  public  worship,  and  individuals 
falling  into  the  usual  spasmodic  convulsions. 
All  at  once  he  found  himself  violently  jerked 
out  of  bed,  and  dashed  round  the  room  and 
against  the  walls,  in  a  manner  altogether  be- 
yond his  control.  Recollecting  that  praying 
was  said  to  be  a  good  sedative  on  such  occa- 
sions, he  resorted  to  the  experiment,  and,  to 
his  great  satisfaction,  found  it  successful.  He 
returned  to  bed  quite  relieved,  but  only  to  be 
again  affected  in  the  same  way,  and  again 
quieted  by  the  act  of  prayer.  He  then  dressed 
himself,  and  to  occupy  his  mind,  went  to  tlie 


62  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

tan  yard,  and  drawing  a  skin  from  the  vat, 
prepared  to  take  off  the  liair.  lie  rolled  np 
his  sleeves,  and  grasping  the  knife,  was  abont 
to  commence  operations,  when  instantaneoi'sly 
the  knife  was  flirted  ont  of  his  hand,  and  he 
himself  jerked  over  logs,  and  against  fences, 
as  before.  Gaining  relief  by  resorting  to  the 
former  remedy,  he  ventured  to  resnme  his 
occupation,  and  again  was  interrupted.  But 
finding  his  talisman  losing  its  efficacy,  he  began 
now  to  be  really  alarmed,  and  quitting  the 
yard,  he  returned  to  his  chamber  and  betook 
himself  to  prayer  in  good  earnest.  In  this 
condition,  weeping  and  crying  to  God  for 
mercy,  he  was  found  by  the  fimily  on  their 
return.  The  result  of  this  singular  incident 
was,  that  he  became  a  truly  converted  man, 
and  shortly  after  connected  himself  with  the 
church. 

The  same  author  mentions  another  example 
of  the  involuntary  nature  of  these  bodily  exer- 
cises, in  the  case  of  a  lady  and  gentleman  of 
some  note  in  the  fashionable  world,  who  were 
attracted  to  the  camp-meeting  at  Cane  Ridge 


ON    RELIOIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  63 

by  mere  curiosity.  On  the  way  tliey  amused 
themselves  with  a  variety  of  jokes  upon  the 
poor  dehided  creatures  who  allowed  themselves 
to  roll  screaming  in  the  mud,  and  crying  for 
mercy;  and  sportively  agreed,  that  if  either  of 
them  should  fall,  the  other  should  remain, 
and  render  suitable  protection  and  assistance. 
They  had  not  been  long  on  the  ground,  when, 
to  the  consternation  of  the  gentleman,  his  gay 
companion  suddenly  dropped;  whereupon,  in- 
stead of  fulfilling  his  promise,  he  fled  at  full 
speed.  Flight,  however,  proved  no  preserva- 
tive, for  he  had  not  gone  two  hundred  yards 
before  he  was  seized  in  the  same  way,  and 
measured  his  own  length  upon  the  ground; 
while  a  crowd  flocked  around  him  to  witness 
his  mortification,  and  offer  prayers  in  his  be- 
half. 

Very  much  like  this,  and  equally  marvellous, 
are  the  bodily  exercises  which  have  attended 
the  late  work  of  grace  in  Ireland.  Dr.  Mac- 
naughton  says,  that  "persons  would  be  sud- 
denly struck  down  as  if  they  were  dead;  and 
not    under   the  influence    of  exciting   appeals 


C4:  INFLUENCE    OF    nCALTII    AND    DISEASE 

made  to  them,  for  the  same  things  liappened 
to  them  when  they  were  alone,  and  no  person 
speaking  to  them." 

Instructive  exemplifications  of  our  subject, 
concerning  the  power  of  the  imagination,  might 
be  taken  from  the  records  of  empiricism. 
Every  feat  of  medical  charlatanry  has  been 
a  signal  illustration  of  the  strong  reciprocal 
influence  of  the  mind  and  the  body.  In  the 
early  part  of  the  present  century,  a  native  of 
New  England  reaped  a  harvest  of  more  than 
ten  thousand  pounds  sterling  from  grateful, 
but  deluded  patients  in  Great  Britain,  whom 
,  he  had  relieved  of  distressing  maladies  by 
means  of  his  "  metallic  tractors."  These  were 
two  small  pieces  of  metal  of  different  kinds, 
which  received  their  name  from  being  drawn 
slightly  over  the  part  of  the  body  affected,  and 
which  were  said  to  attract  the  disease  to  the 
surface.  That  these  marvellous  cures  were 
produced  by  the  imagination  of  the  sufferer, 
was  proved  by  Dr.  Haygarth,  who  liad  a  couple 
of  wooden  tractors  made,  to  resemble  in  ap- 
pearance the    metallic.     The    tractors  of  both 


ON    RELIGIOUS   EXRERIENCE.  65 

sorts  were  afterwards  applied  to  five  patients, 
and  the  same  benefit  followed,  whether  the 
instrument  used  was  made  of  wood  or  of  iron; 
thus  demonstrating  the  whole  to  be  a  grand 
imposture.  It  was  a  case  which  clearly  be- 
longs to  the  same  category  with  that  related 
of  Dr.  Woodhouse,  who  tested  the  power  of 
imagination  on  certain  persons,  who,  when 
nitrous  oxide  excited  great  attention,  were 
anxious  to  breathe  the  gas.  He  administered 
to  them  ten  gallons  of  atmospherical  air,  in 
doses  of  from  four  to  six  quarts.  Impressed 
with  the  idea  that  they  were  inhaling  the 
exhilarating  gas,  they  soon  began  to  exhibit 
the  usual  quickness  of  pulse,  vertigo,  ringing 
in  the  ears,  difiiculty  of  breathing,  faintness, 
weakness  of  the  knees,  and  nausea,  which 
lasted  from  six  to  eight  hours. 

Bartholini,  a  famous  physician,  born  at 
Copenhagen  (1616,)  declares  that  he  once,  by 
mistake,  gave  a  patient  a  bottle  of  mere  water 
instead  of  another  bottle  of  liquor  designed 
for  an  emetic,  and  that  the  patient's  imagina- 
6* 


C6  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND    DISEASE 

tion  was  so   affected  by  the  expectation,  that 
the  water  produced  the  effect  he  intended. 

Franciscus  Borri,  born  at  Milan  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  seventeenth  century,  was  said 
to  cure  all  diseases,  and  so  great  was  his  repu- 
tation, that  patients  were  carried  to  him  from 
a  great  distance.  But  when  it  came  to  be 
observed  that  he  cured  only  those  who  had  a 
strong  imagination,  his  credit  sunk  at  once, 
and  he  worked  no  more  wonders.  A  most 
remarkable  example  of  the  irresistible  power 
of  a  disquieted  mind  is  mentioned  by  Gregorius 
Leti,  in  his  history  of  the  Duke  D'Ossuna. 
He  tells  us  that  a  rich  Neapolitan  merchant, 
Jacob  Morel,  prided  himself  in  not  having  once 
set  his  foot  out  of  the  city  during  forty-eight 
years.  This  coming  to  the  ears  of  the  Duke, 
Morel  had  notice  sent  to  him  that  he  was  to 
take  no  journey  out  of  the  kingdom  under  the 
penalty  of  ten  thousand  crowns.  The  mer- 
chant smiled  at  receiving  the  order,  but  after- 
wards, not  being  able  to  fathom  the  reason  of 
such  a  prohibition,  grew  so  uneasy,  that  he 
paid  the  fine,  and  took  a  little  trip  out  of  the 
kingdom. 


ON    RKLKUOHS    EXrERIENCE.  (17 

Seidell,  in  his  "Table-Talk,"  mentions  the 
case  of  a  gentleman  that  had  been  in  a  pro- 
longed state  of  melancholy,  whose  malady  I 
relieved,  he  says,  by  the  following  very  simple 
expedient.  "Perceiving  his  great  confidence 
in  me,  and  knowing  that  his  complaint  was 
rather  fancied  than  real,  I  desired  him  to  let 
me  alone  for  a  short  time,  and  then  come  again, 
when  I  would  give  him  directions,  which,  if 
faithfully  followed,  would  cure  him.  In  the 
meantime  I  got  a  card,  and  wrapped  it  in  a 
handsome  piece  of  taffeta,  to  which  I  put 
strings,  and  when  he  came,  gave  it  to  him  to 
hang  about  his  neck.  At  the  same  time  I 
charged  him  not  to  disorder  himself  with  im- 
proper eating  and  drinking;  take  very  little 
supper,  attend  as  usual  to  his  devotional  duties 
as  he  went  to  bed,  and  in  a  short  time  he 
would  be  well.  Three  or  four  days  after,  I 
called  upon  him,  and  found  him  very  much 
better,  but  perceiving  that  there  was  still  a 
remnant  of  his  mental  disquiet,  I  gave  him 
another  string  to  hang  about  his  neck.  Three 
days  after,  he  came  to  my  office  in  the  Temple, 
and  professed  that  he  was  as  well   as  he  had 


68  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

ever  been  in  his  life,  and  thanked  me  for  the 
care  I  had  taken  of  him.  The  gentleman 
lived  many  years,  and  was  never  troubled 
after." 

Similar  examples  of  the  reflected  influences 
of  the  mind  and  body  on  each  other  might 
be  easily  adduced  to  a  much  greater  extent. 
We  have  indulged  in  our  selections  already 
to  a  profuseness  perhaps,  but  the  truths  they 
illustrate  cannot  be  presented  in  too  many 
phases,  nor  too  deeply  impressed.  It  is  a 
branch  of  the  great  subject  of  Moral  Thera- 
peutics, which  is  too  little  studied  by  those 
who  are  charged  with  the  health  of  either  the 
body  or  of  the  soul.  They  may  be  read  with 
advantage  by  many,  as  interesting  psychologi- 
cal facts,  and  at  the  same  time  help  to  prepare 
them  for  the  more  interesting  part  of  our 
inquiry — the  illustrations  of  this  connection 
between  the  outer  and  inner*  man,  as  fur- 
nished by 

III.   CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

We  have  already  said,  that  it  is  a  subject 
which  is  worthy  the  attention  of  all,  whatever 


ON    RELKilOUS    EXPERIENCE.  G9 

their  character,  moral  or  religious;  but  it  is 
more  particularly  the  case  of  the  latter  that 
this  investigation  contemplates.  It  is  to  show 
the  influence  of  the  mind  and  feelings  upon 
the  body,  as  well  as  the  constant  and  yet  often 
unsuspected  actings  of  the  flesh,  with  its  un- 
numbered infirmities,  upon  the  spirit;  and  that 
the  devotional  exercises  of  the  latter  are  greatly 
aflected  by  the  physical  condition  of  the  for- 
mer. And  if  the  foregoing  observations  have 
been  uninteresting,  or  unintelligible  to  any, 
there  are  those  who  will  understand  us  now. 
Here  we  strike  a  chord  which  will  vibrate 
more  or  less  in  every  changed  heart  that  has 
been  given  to  the  study  of  its  own  exercises. 
No  person  accustomed  to  notice  his  various 
religious  frames,  can  have  failed  to  perceive 
that  these  are  closely  allied  to  what  is  usually 
denominated  his  "  constitution."  Is  there  such 
a  blending  of  the  juices  of  the  animal  economy 
as  to  produce  what  is  called  a  nervous  tem- 
perament, or  that  excess  of  bile  which  makes 
it  melancholy'?  Or  is  the  man  gentle  or  se- 
rene, sanguine  or  timid,  cheerful  or  sad,  you 


70  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH   AND    DISEASE 

will  find  that  these  idiosyncrasies  will  not  be 
merged  and  lost  in  the  changes  wronght  by 
regenerating  grace.  His  religion  will  not  so 
neutralize  and  remove  the  cause  of  his  lowness 
of  spirits,  his  timidity,  or  whatever  it  may  be 
that  is  peculiar  to  his  nature,  as  to  make  him 
at  all  times  cheerful  and  self-possessed.  The 
bashful  man  will  be  a  bashful  Christian;  and 
the  bold  man,  constitutionally,  will  be  bold  in 
a  state  of  grace.  After  all  that  the  Spirit  has 
accomplished  in  each,  it  will  still  be  true  in 
all,  that  the  religious  character  will  be  tinc- 
tured by  that  of  the  natural  man,  as  the  liquor 
put  into  an  old  cask  commonly  receives  a 
strong  tang  from  the  vessel. 

Quo  semel  est  imbuta  recens,  servabit  odorem 
Testa  diu. 

The  odours  of  the  wine,  that  first  shall  stain 
The  virgin  vessel,  it  shall  long  retain. — Francis. 

In  this  respect  the  Spirit's  operation  on  the 
soul  has  been  happily  compared  to  the  work 
of  a  sculptor,  who  makes  a  statue  of  wood, 
of  stone,  or  of  marble,  indifferently,  according 
to  the    material    put   into   his  hand.     So   the 


ON   RELiaiOUS   EXPERIENCE.  71 

Spirit,  in  forming  the  new  man,  still  retains 
so  much  of  the  old  as  to  make  it  evident  what 
is  the  rock  from  which  he  was  hewn.  Nor  is 
it  a  less  interesting  fact,  that  this  gracious 
influence  is  so  exerted  in  the  various  condi- 
tions of  life  where  it  is  felt,  as  to  qualify  the 
soul  for  the  appropriate  duties  of  its  particular 
station.  Does  regenerating  grace  find  a  man 
in  high  life  or  humble,  in  Caesar's  household, 
among  the  fishermen  of  Galilee,  or  the  ser- 
vants of  Philemon,  it  requires  no  change  in 
his  place,  but  works  a  change  on  his  heart, 
and  gives  new  help  to  discharge  his  duties 
better.  The  same  Holy  Spirit  who  makes  a 
Christian  master  gentle  and  prudent  in  com- 
manding, makes  a  Christian  servant  faithful 
and  cheerful  in  obeying;  as  the  astrologers 
said  of  Cyrus,  that  the  same  stars  which  made 
him  to  be  chosen  king  amongst  the  armies '  of 
men  when  he  came  to  be  a  man,  made  him 
to  be  chosen  king  among  the  shepherds'  child- 
ren when  he  was  a  child.  In  rearing  the  New 
Testament  temple  of  the  Redeemer  on  earth, 
there  is   the  same    occasion  for  various   gifts 


r^  INFLUENCE   OP    HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

and  kinds  of  service  that  there  was  in  the 
magnificent  structure  of  Solomon.  And  hence 
the  innocent  and  useful  differences  between 
men,  in  their  fallen  state,  are  preserved  and 
turned  to  a  profitable  account  in  their  reco- 
very. See  a  familiar  illustration  of  this  in  the 
original  teachers  of  the  gospel,  or  the  twelve 
apostles.  Simon  Peter  was  by  natural  tem- 
perament ardent,  sanguine,  precipitate ;  and 
this  cliaracteristic  of  the  natural  man  is  con- 
tinually betraying  itself  after  his  conversion. 
You  observe  it  in  his  conversations  with  his 
Master;  his  bold  professions,  hasty  promises, 
which  opened  the  way  for  his  sifting  by  Satan, 
and  his  lamentable  fall.  After  the  resurrec- 
tion, see  him  running  with  John  to  visit  the 
sepulchre;  and  while  his  timid  and  cautious 
companion  stoops  down  at  first,  and  only  ven- 
tures to  look  into  the  place,  the  intrepid  Peter 
rushes  by  and  plunges  into  the  gloomy  abode 
of  the  dead,  examines  the  very  spot  where  the 
sacred  dust  had  rested,  and  the  linen  clothes 
in  which  it  had  been  wrapped.  Both  of  them 
regenerated  men,   and    men  perhaps  of  equal 


ox    RELIGIOUS   EXrERIENCE.  73 

piety;  but  very  unlike  before  their  conversion, 
and  scarcely  more  alike  afterwards.  Dr.  Mason 
used  to  say,  that  the  grace  which  would  make 
John  appear  like  an  angel,  would  be  only  just 
enough  to  keep  Peter  from  knocking  a  man 
down. 

Look  next  at  Paul,  whose  lofty  bearing,  and 
undaunted  courage  by  nature,  was  not  a  whit 
impaired,  but  only  sanctified  by  grace,  and 
retained  to  the  end  of  his  life.  See  Luther 
and  Melancthon,  as  opposite  in  their  Christian 
character  as  they  were  in  their  original  tem- 
perament. "Melancthon,"  Cecil  says,  "is  like 
a  snail  with  his  couple  of  horns ;  he  puts  out 
his  horns  and  feels — and  feels — and  feels.  No 
education  could  have  rendered  these  two  men 
alike.  Their  difference  began  in  the  womb. 
Luther  dashes  in  saying  his  things;  Melanc- 
thon must  go  round  about."  The  same  divine 
influence  had  wrought  effectually  on  the  heart 
of  both;  yet,  like  the  statue  of  which  we 
spoke,  the  image  corresponded  to  the  material 
out  of  which  it  had  been  constructed.  That 
any  amount  of  spiritual  influence  should  ever 
7 


74  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND   DISEASE 

destroy  these  physical  characteristics  and  make 
men  of  such  divers  temperaments  ahke,  is  to 
be  expected  no  more  than  that  it  shoiild  make 
them  of  one  stature,  or  give  them  the  same 
features  or  complexion. 

It  will  be  recollected  how  Caesar  recognizes 
the  influence  of  temperament,  when  he  ob- 
jected to  Cassius,  because  he  was  "lean  and 
thought  too  much."  He  wished  to  have  around 
him 

Sleek  headed  men,  and  sucli  as  sleep  o'  niglits. 
Would  he  were  fatter. 

Such  men  as  Cassius  feared  are  usually 
"lean,"  because  their  "too  much"  thinking 
developes  the  brain  and  the  nervous  system  at 
the  expense  of  some  function  in  the  animal 
or  organic.  Men  of  this  sort,  according  to 
Dr.  Johnson,  will  be  found  thin  and  sallow, 
with  weak  digestion,  and  quickness  or  irrita- 
bility of  nerve,  like  Lord  Wellington  or  Bona- 
parte, till  the  latter  became  bloated  by  disease. 
Martin  Luther's  amazing  executive  powers 
were  as  closely  connected  with  his  physical 
quahties  as  with  his  moral.     His  great  mind 


ON   RELKIIOL'S   EXPERIENCE.  75 

was  lodged  in  a  body  which  seemed  to  have 
been  created  for  just  such  a  tenant.  His  frame 
was  large,  well  proportioned,  athletic,  and  capa- 
ble of  enduring,  without  fi\tigue,  any  amount 
of  labour  and  privation.  lie  was  affable,  hope- 
ful, and  a  stranger  to  those  bodily  ailments 
that  so  beset  and  embitter  the  life  of  the  seden- 
tary and  studious.  Dr.  Cox  is  reported  to 
have  said,  that  it  was  well  that  Luther  was 
not  a  dyspeptic,  for  the  Eeformation  would 
have  been  delayed,  had  he  wanted  a  good 
digestion. 

But  there  are  other,  and  in  some  respects 
more  marked  and  painful  illustrations,  in  the 
morbid  experience  of  some  Cln-istians,  which 
are  at  once  an  effect  and  a  symptom  of  the 
state  of  their  health,  llev.  Timothy  Rogers, 
a  minister  in  London  near  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  who  was  happily  delivered 
from  long  affliction  and  great  spiritual  distress 
produced  by  this  cause,  describes  the  condition 
as  one  which  is  in  every  respect  sad  and  over- 
whelming. In  a  letter  to  a  friend  he  says,  "It 
is  a  state  of  darkness  that  has  no  discernible 


76  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

beams  of  light.  It  is  a  land  of  darkness,  on 
which  no  sun  at  all  seems  to  shine.  It  does 
generally,  indeed,  first  begin  at  the  body,  and 
then  conveys  its  venom  to  the  mind;  and  if 
anything  could  be  found  that  might  keep  the 
blood  and  spirits  in  their  due  temper  and 
motion,  this  would  obstruct  its  further  pro- 
gress, and  in  a  great  measure  keep  the  soul 
clear."  How  many  belong  to  that  class  who 
are  famiharly  said  to  look  only  at  the  dark 
side  of  every  object,  and  are  unwilling  to 
engage  in  any  enterprise,  from  an  anticipa- 
tion of  its  failure.  Whether  the  happiness  of 
this  world  or  the  next  be  their  pursuit,  the 
prospect  is  cheered  by  scarcely  a  ray  of  hope. 
Such  a  tendency  to  gloom  is  a  thorn  in  the 
flesh,  by  which  they  are  often  tormented;  nor 
is  any  class  more  exposed  to  the  buffetings 
of  this  minister  of  Satan,  than  the  teachers 
of  religion.  How  often  do  we  witness  the  sad 
spectacle  of  those  whose  manifold  bodily  in- 
firmities, brought  on  by  sedentary  habits,  great 
anxiety,  or  excessive  study  and  exhaustion  of 
sensorial  power,  defraud  them  of  all  the  conso- 


ON    IlELKIIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  <7 

lations  of  that  benignant  system  of  faitli  wliicli 
they  arc  enabled  to  expound  so  successfully  to 
others.  Instead  of  an  open,  cheerful  expres- 
sion of  countenance,  we  often  see  a  wrinkled, 
contracted,  sinister  look,  which  speaks  any- 
thing but  in  favour  of  the  benign  religion  of 
the  gospel.  Thus,  Christianity  itself  is  made 
to  suffer  from  the  physical  sufferings  of  its 
professors  and  expounders.  The  light-minded 
and  thoughtless  imbibe  a  prejudice  against  it, 
from  observing  the  care-worn  and  sorrowful 
features  of  some  of  its  advocates.  They  think 
it  to  be  a  legitimate  effect  of  their  principles, 
and  are  made  to  shun  the  places,  and  books, 
and  people,  whose  influence  appears  to  be  so 
detrimental  to  all  earthly  enjoyment.  Unhap- 
pily, these  outward  tokens  of  disquietude  are 
but  too  significant  of  what  is  passing  within. 
If  the  face  be  covered  with  gloom,  it  is  only 
an  index  of  the  state  of  such  a  Christian's 
heart,  when  in  the  retirement  of  his  closet  he 
pours  out  its  exercises  in  lamentations,  and 
confessions  of  sin,  and  supplications  for  relief. 
At  one  time,  he  feels  that  he  has  grieved  the 
7* 


/  8  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH   AND    DISEASE 

Spirit,  that  his  best  services  are  only  hypo- 
critical forms,  and  surely  God  has  forsaken 
him.  His  heart  appears  like  the  nether  mill- 
stone, and  his  bosom  the  cage  of  every  unclean 
bird.  The  arrows  of  the  Almighty  are  ivithin 
him,  the  poison  whereof  drinketh  up  his  spirit, 
and  the  terrors  of  God  do  set  themselves  in 
array  against  him.  Again  the  scene  is  wholly 
changed;  the  turbid  current  of  his  thoughts 
has  become  clear  as  crystal.  The  rain  is  over 
and  gone,  and  the  time  of  the  singing  of  birds 
is  come.  The  change  in  his  exercises  is  like 
the  transition  from  the  terrific  tempest  to  the 
serene  sky,  and  air,  and  pleasant  sun,  that  fol- 
low it.  Or  ever  he  is  aware,  his  soul  makes  him 
like  the  chariots  of  Amminadih.  His  doubts  are 
solved,  his  fears  are  gone,  and  his  present  joys 
pei;haps  are  in  proportion  to  his  previous  sad- 
ness. He  is  brought  into  Christ's  banqueting 
house,  and  the  banner  over  him  is  love.  He  is 
stayed  with  flagons  and  comforted  with  apples, 
and  restored  to  the  joys  of  salvation. 

That  such  spiritual  fluctuations  as  these,  to 
which  so  many  Christians  are  subject,  are  very 


O.V    RELIGIOUS    EXPERIENCE.  79 

often  produced  by  physical  causes,  is  as  capable 
of  proof,  as  it  is  tliat  an  excited  pulse  and 
increased  heat  are  symptoms  of  fever.  They 
are  the  reflected  influence  of  some  bodily  mal- 
ady upon  the  soul.  They  arise,  as  Rev.  Dr. 
J.  11.  McDuff"  says,  from  a  diseased  body,  an 
overstrung  mind — a  succession  of  calamities, 
weakening  and  impairing  the  nervous  system. 
We  know  how  susceptible  are  the  body  and 
mind  together,  of  being  aff"ectcd  by  external 
influences.  Of  that  constitution  which,  in  our 
ignorance,  we  call  union  of  soul  and  body,  we 
know  little  respecting  what  is  cause  and  what 
is  effect.  AVe  would  fain  believe  that  the 
mind  has  power  over  the  body;  but  it  is  just 
as  true  that  the  body  rules  the  mind.  Causes 
apparently  the  most  trivial — a  h'eatcd  room, 
want  of  exercise,  a  sunless  day,  a  northern 
aspect — will  make  all  the  difference  between 
happiness  and  unhappiness;  between  faith  and 
doubt;  between  courage  and  indecision.  To 
our  fancy  there  is  something  humiliating  in 
being  thus  at  the  mercy  of  our  animal  or- 
ganism.    "We  would   fain   find   nobler   causes 


80  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND   DLSEASE 

for  our  emotions.  But  many  of  those  sighs 
and  tears,  and  morbid,  depressed  feelings  which 
Christians  speak  of  as  the  result  of  spiritual 
darkness  and  the  desertion  of  God,  are  merely 
the  result  of  physical  derangement ;  the  penalty 
often  for  the  violation  of  the  laws  of  health. 
The  atmosphere  we  breathe  is  enough  to  ac- 
count for  them.  They  come  and  go,  rise  and 
fall,  with  the  mercury  in  the  tube.  These  are 
cases  not  for  the  spiritual,  but  for  the  bodily 
physician.  Their  cure  is  in  attendance  to  the 
usual  laws  and  prescriptions  which  regulate 
the  healthy  action  of  the  bodily  functions. 
We  once  knew  a  man  of  superior  natural  gifts 
and  piety,  an  officer  of  the  church,  who  suf- 
fered occasionally  from  such  a  cause.  The 
effect  on  his  devotional  feelings  was  so  marked, 
that  you  could  discover  the  state  of  his  health 
in  his  prayers.  They  were  always  excellent 
and  edifying,  yet  there  was  at  times  a  subdued 
manner,  or  a  sadness,  which  indicated  the  in- 
fluence of  bodily  infirmity,  and  of  the  struggle 
of  the  soul  to  resist  the  tendency. 

Many  have  discovered  that  their  periods  of 


ON    RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  81 

spiritual  depression  arc  always  contempora- 
neous with  periodical  changes  in  their  physical 
condition,  or  with  that  sort  of  indisposition 
which  proceeds  from  gastric  derangement  or 
an  affection  of  the  liver.  How  many  thou- 
sands are  daily  affected  by  changes  in  the 
atmosphere,  scarcely  less  than  was  Dr.  Francia, 
Dictator  of  Paraguay,  whose  most  extravagant 
outbreaks  of  passion,  and  cruel  exertions  of 
despotic  power,  generally  occurred  during  his 
seasons  of  hypochondria,  which  were  most  fre- 
quent when  the  wind  was  north-east,  but  which 
ended  with  a  change  to  south-west,  when  he 
would  begin  to  sing  and  laugh  to  himself,  and 
was  readily  accessible.  Sir  "Woodbine  Parish 
informs  us,  in  his  narrative  of  a  visit  to  Buenos 
A)Tes,  that  a  sort  of  moral  derangement  pre- 
vails when  the  wind  blows  from  the  north; 
that  quarrels  and  bloodshed  are  much  more 
frequent  at  such  times  than  at  any  other.  He 
relates  that  a  gentleman  of  amiable  manners 
under  ordinary  circumstances,  was  so  affected 
by  this  wind,  that  whenever  it  prevailed,  he 
would  quaiTcl  with  any  one  he  met;  and  he 


82  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

was  at  last  executed  for  murder,  after  having 
been  engaged  in  street-fights,  with  knives,  at 
least  twenty  times. 

The  cases  in  which  tliis  sort  of  morbid  suf- 
fering is  exemplified  are  so  numerous,  that 
their  name  is  Legion.  They  find  that  their 
state  while  here  "is  a  conjunction  of  their 
soul  to  a  frail  distempered  body,  and  so  near 
a  conjunction,  that  the  actions  of  the  soul  must 
have  great  dependence  on  the  body.  Its  ap- 
prehensions of  spiritual  good  are  limited  by 
the  frailty  of  the  body,  and  the  soul  can  go 
no  higher  than  the  body  will  allow."  We 
have  known  instances  in  which  the  seasons  of 
spiritual  joy  and  depression  alternated  like  an 
intermittent  disease,  coming  and  departing  at 
regular  intervals.  In  the  church  of  the  late 
Dr.  Spencer,  of  Brooklyn,  New  York,  was  an 
excellent  female,  whose  "  mind  was  found  to 
be  shrouded  in  darkness  and  gloom,  xlfter 
many  conversations  held  at  different  times  for 
months,  one  day  I  called  upon  her,"  he  says, 
"  and  to  my  surprise  found  her  calm,  and  that 
her  distress  of  spirit  had  given  place  to  glad- 


ON    RELiniOUS   EXPERIENCE.  83 

ncss.  But  tlirec  days  after  this,  her  h'ght  liad 
departed  and  slic  liad  relapsed  into  her  former 
state  of  despair.  Not  long  after,  slic  became 
hopeful  and  happy  for  a  little  season,  and  then 
as  depressed  and  sorrowful  as  ever.  These 
alternations  from  gloom  to  gladness  were  inex- 
plicable, until  I  was  able  to  connect  them  with 
the  state  of  her  bodily  health.  AVhen  I  men- 
tioned the  cause  to  her,  she  admitted  the  coin- 
cidence between  the  coming  of  pain  into  her 
head  and  the  departure  of  her  spiritual  peace; 
but  this  explanation  seemed  credible  only  dur- 
ing her  intervals  of  peace,  which  at  length 
became  short.  In  the  morning  she  was  always 
hopeful,  but  every  afternoon  in  despair.  In 
the  morning  she  believed  that  her  afternoon 
distress  was  caused  by  her  bodily  infirmity, 
but  would  entirely  disbelieve  it  in  the  after- 
noon. At  length  the  morbid  bodily  state 
which  had  so  affected  her  mind  was  changed. 
Tlie  light  of  Christian  hope  and  joy  were  no 
longer  withdrawn.  Iler  death  w^as  peaceful, 
without  a  doubt  of  a  happy  immortality." 
During   Mr.  Cecil's   protracted   sickness   of 


81:  INFLUENCE   OF    HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

three  years,  the  state  of  his  mind  fluctuated 
with  his  malady.  Its  principal  effect  was  ap- 
parent in  throwing  a  cloud  over  his  comfort. 
He  was  precisely  like  a  man  laden  with  a 
heavy  weight.  As  the  load  was  lightened,  he 
began  to  think,  feel,  exert  and  enjoy  himself 
in  his  natural  manner.  When  the  burden  was 
increased,  he  sank  down  again  under  the  op- 
pression. Sometimes  these  intermissions  are 
much  more  prolonged,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
late  excellent  and  venerable  Dr.  James  Hall, 
of  North  Carolina,  who  was  of  a  melancholy 
temperament;  and  after  finishing  his  education 
at  Princeton  he  fell  into  a  gloomy  dejection, 
which  interrupted  his  studies  and  labours  for 
more  than  a  year.  After  his  restoration  he 
laboured  successfully  and  comfortably  in  the 
ministry  many  years,  even  to  old  age;  but  at 
last  was  overtaken  again,  and  entirely  over- 
whelmed by  this  terrible  malady.  "Of  all 
men  that  I  ever  saw,"  Dr.  A.  Alexander  says, 
"he  had  the  tenderest  sympathy  with  persons 
labouring  imder  religious  despondency.  When 
on   a  journey,   I  have  known  him   to   travel 


ON   RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  85 

miles  out  of  his  way  to  converse  with  a  suf- 
ferer of  this  kind;  and  his  manner  was  most 
tender  and  affectionate  in  speaking  to  such." 

A  venerable  clergyman,  who  had  suffered 
greatly  from  nervous  affections,  discovered  this 
to  be  characteristic  of  his  own  experience;  that 
when  the  period  of  gloom  and  distress  did  not 
terminate  for  two  or  three  weeks,  it  woidd  in 
the  meantime  recur  only  every  other  day.  But 
the  more  common  cases  are  those  in  which 
the  cloud,  when  gathered,  remains  suspended 
and  unmoved  for  days  or  weeks,  with  scarcely 
a  gleam  of  sunshine.  Such  a  sufferer  was  the 
late  eminently  learned  and  pious  Isaac  Milner, 
Dean  of  Carlisle,  whose  extraordinary  talents 
and  attainments  in  science  were  conceded  by 
all,  and  whose  genuine  piety  was  questioned 
by  none  but  himself.  And  yet,  while  the 
source  of  so  much  light  and  spiritual  instruc- 
tion to  others,  he  was  often  an  opaque  and 
cheerless  body  to  himself.  "Though  I  have 
endeavoured  to  discharge  my  duty  as  well  as 
I  could,"  he  writes  to  Mr.  AVilberforcc,  "yet 
sadness  and  melancholy  of  heart  stick  close 
8 


86  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

by  and  increase  npon  me.  I  tell  nobody,  but 
I  am  ■\cry  much  sunk  indeed,  and  I  wish  I 
could  have  the  relief  of  weeping  as  I  used  to 
do."  Again,  in  writing  to  another,  a  clerical 
friend,  he  says,  "My  views  have  of  late  been 
exceedingly  dark  and  distressing;  in  a  word. 
Almighty  God  seems  to  hide  his  face.  I  en- 
trust the  secret  hardly  to  any  earthly  being. 
I  know  not  what  will  become  of  me.  There 
is  doubtless  a  good  deal  of  bodily  affection 
mingled  with  this,  but  it  is  not  all  so.  I  bless 
God,  however,  that  I  never  lose  sight  of  the 
cross;  and  though  I  should  die  without  seeing 
any  personal  interest  in  the  Redeemer's  merits, 
I  think,  I  hope,  that  I  should  be  found  at  his 
feet.  I  will  thank  you  for  a  word  at  your 
leisure.  My  door  is  bolted  at  the  time  of  my 
writing  this,  for  I  am  full  of  tears."  Such 
spiritual  sadness  is  easily  accounted  for,  when 
it  is  understood  that  Dr.  Milner  was  for  up- 
wards of  forty  years  a  victim  of  some  of  the 
most  distressing  complaints  that  flesh  is  heir 
to.  Spasms  in  his  stomach,  severe  and  unin- 
terrupted headaches,  oppression  of  the  breath, 


()\    HKLKilOUS   EXrERIENCE.  87 

broken  slumbers,  disturbed  by  frightful  dreams, 
were  among  the  diseases  whieli  caused  liis 
physicians  to  tell  him,  many  years  before  his 
deatli,  that  with  such  a  pulse  as  his,  a  man's 
life  was  not  worth  one  minute. 

Another  example  is  furnished  by  Richard 
Baxter,  in  whose  practical  and  devotional  wri- 
tings it  is  easy  to  discover  the  constitutional 
habits  and  qualities  of  the  man.  No  person, 
not  inspired,  ever  wrote  more  graphically  of 
heaven  and  hell,  as  if  he  had  visited  both,  and 
had  come  back  to  the  earth  again  to  exhort 
men  to  seek  the  one  and  escape  the  other. 
But,  notwithstanding  his  pre-eminent  piety, 
during  his  early  years  his  mind  was  greatly 
troubled  with  doubts  about  his  own  salvation, 
promoted,  says  his  biographer,  by  the  par- 
ticular cast  of  his  mind,  and  the  state  of  his 
body.  And,  though  habitually  under  the  go- 
vernment of  religious  principles,  it  is  well 
known  that  he  had  certain  besetting  infirmi- 
ties of  temper,  which  are  among  the  most 
common  diagnostics  of  what  were  some  of  his 
manifold  diseases.     The  late  Dr.  Payson  was 


88  INFLUENCE   OP   HEALTH   AND   DISFASE 

another,  whose  vibrations  of  Christian  feeling, 
from  the  joyous  to  the  sad,  the  cheerful  to  the 
desponding  and  melancholy,  are  scarcely  less 
notorious  than  were  his  uncommon  zeal  and 
ministerial  success.  The  cause  is  at  once 
explained,  when  his  biographer  tells  us  that 
his  physical  conformation  was  of  a  very  deli- 
cate structure,  extremely  sensitive,  and  easily 
excited,  so  that  nervous  irritability  and  conse- 
quent depression  were  an  ingredient  in  his 
nature.  Hence,  he  adds,  we  have  seen  him 
writing  bitter  things  against  himself,  for  causes 
which,  with  a  different  temperament,  would 
have  given  him  little  uneasiness.  The  case  of 
David  Brainerd,  the  apostolic  missionary,  is  in 
some  respects  more  marked  and  instructive  on 
this  subject  than  even  Payson's.  But  it  is 
easy  to  make  the  almost  opposite  and  contra- 
dictory details  of  his  diary  harmonize  >vith  one 
another,  and  both  with  eminent  godliness, 
when  the  writer  of  his  Memoirs,  President 
Edwards,  tells  us  of  his  frail  health,  and  of 
his  constitutional  proneness  to  dejection  and 
melancholy.     His   willing   spirit   would  have 


ON   RKLIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  89 

made  him  a  rival  of  Paul,  but  under  the  weak- 
ness of  his  flesh  he  sunk  before  he  reached 
the  age  of  thirty. 

Such  iUustrations  need  not  be  multiphed, 
and  yet  we  cannot  forbear  to  advert,  for  a 
moment,  before  we  pass  on,  to  the  touching 
case  of  one  in  whose  character  there  is  an 
abiding  interest,  which  aftbrds  a  guaranty  that 
the  repetition,  even  of  that  which  is  famiharly 
known,  will  not  be  tiresome.  And  perhaps 
within  the  range  of  casuistic  research,  we 
could  not  find  a  more  aftccting  instance  of 
morbid  religious  affection,  than  that  of  Cow- 
per.  How  long  his  mind  was  shrouded  in 
darkness,  and  racked  witli  the  most  fearful 
forebodings,  is  as  widely  known  as  is  his 
name.  In  one  of  his  somewhat  playful  moods, 
when  writing  to  the  Rev.  John  Newton,  "  my 
thoughts,"  he  says,  "  are  clad  in  a  sober  livery, 
for  the  most  part  as  grave  as  that  of  a  bishop's 
servant.  They  turn,  too,  upon  spiritual  sub- 
jects; but  the  tallest  fellow,  and  the  loudest 
among  them  all,  is  he  wlio  is  continually  cry- 
ing out  with  a  loud  voice,  actum  est  de  te, 
8* 


90  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

periisti — it  is  all  over,  you  are  lost."  But  what 
was  the  state  of  his  mind  for  many  years,  is 
nowhere  described  in  more  affecting  terms 
than  in  the  last  original  poem  which  he  ever 
wrote,  and  which  he  called  the  Castaway.  It 
was  founded  on  an  incident  mentioned  in  Lord 
Anson's  Voyages,  which  he  had  read  many 
years  before,  though  the  concluding  stanzas 
show  that  the  real  subject  of  his  muse  was 
not  the  sufferer  mentioned  by  Anson:  for  hav- 
ing described  the  case  of  the  unhappy  mariner, 
his  being  washed  headlong  from  on  board. 

Of  friends,  of  hope,  of  all  bereft ; 

his  sinking  beneath  the  "whelming  brine;" 
then  rising  to  the  surface,  struggling  among 
the  waves,  his  crying  for  help,  the  efforts  made 
to  save  him,  the  mournful  sound  of  his  voice, 
heard  in  every  blast  by  his  comrades,  as  the 
ship  was  driven  farther  and  farther  from  him, 
till  they 

Could  catch  the  sound  no  more; 

when,  overcome  at  length,  and  exhausted,  he 
sunk;  the  poet  then  adds: 

I  therefore  purpose  not,  or  dream, 
Dcscautiiig  on  his  fate, 


ON   RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  91 

To  give  the  melancholy  thenio 

A  more  enduring  date; 
But  misery  delights  to  trace 
Its  semblance  iu  another's  case. 

No  voice  divine  the  storm  allayed, 

No  light  propitious  shone; 

When  snatched  from  all  effectual  aid, 

We  perish'd  each  alone ; 
But  I  beneath  a  rougher  sea, 
Am  Tvhelm'd  in  deeper  gulfs  than  he. 

That  the  cause  of  Cowper's  spiritual  depres- 
sion was  disease,  has  been  abundantly  proved 
to  all,  unless  it  be  those  "who  would  far 
sooner  tolerate  a  poet's  being  a  madman  than 
his  being  a  saint."  His  despondency  was  pro- 
duced by  physical  causes,  which  could  not  be 
removed  by  reasoning,  any  more  than  a  head- 
ache or  a  paroxysm  of  the  gout.  So  the  suf- 
ferer himself  appears  to  believe,  as  is  more 
than  implied  in  the  following  extract  from 
one  of  his  letters: — "The  mind  of  man  is  not 
a  fountain,  but  a  cistern,  and  mine,  God  knows, 
a  broken  one.  Sally  Perry's  case  has  given 
us  much  concern;  I  have  no  doubt  it  is  dis- 
temper. But  distresses  of  mind  that  are  occa- 
sioned by  distemper  are  the  most  difficult  of 


92  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

all  to  deal  with.  They  refuse  all  consola- 
tion; they  will  hear  no  reason.  Gocl  only, 
by  his  own  immediate  impressions,  can  relieve 
them,  as  after  an  experience  of  thirteen  years' 
misery  I  can  abundantly  testify."  Like  other 
valetudinarians  of  a  particular  class,  his  nerves 
were  as  sensitive  to  atmospheric  changes  as 
is  the  mercury  of  the  barometer.  He  was 
joyful  or  sad,  as  the  day  was  serene  or  cloudy. 
"I  rise  cheerless  or  distressed,','  says  he  to  one 
of  his  friends,  "and  brighten  as  the  sun  goes 
on."  He  had  his  four  seasons  of  feeling,  as 
the  revolving  earth  described  the  four  grand 
stages  of  the  sun's  progress  in  the  ecliptic. 
Thus,  in  another  of  his  letters,  he  says:  "I 
now  see  a  long  winter  before  me,  and  am  to 
get  through  it  as  I  can.  I  know  the  ground 
before  I  tread  upon  it:  it  is  hollow:  it  is 
agitated;  it  suffers  shocks  in  every  direction; 
it  is  like  the  soil  of  Calabria — all  Avhirlpool 
and  undulation.  But  I  must  reel  through  it ; 
at  least,  if  I  be  not  swallowed  up  by  the 
way." 

In  a  brief  notice  of  Cowper  by  Mr.  Cecil, 


ON    RELiaiOUS   EXPERIENCE.  93 

lie  alludes  to  an  "unfounded  report"  in  circu- 
lation, that  the  poet's  melancholy  was  derived 
from  his  residence  and  connection  at  Olney. 
The  fact,  however,  Mr.  Cecil  says,  was  just 
the  reverse,  as  was  attested  both  by  respect- 
able living  witnesses,  and  by  manuscripts  of 
C'owper's  own  writing  at  the  calmest  period 
of  his  life.  Many  years  before,  and  shortly 
after  he  began  the  study  of  law,  he  had  a 
fearful  attack,  which  was  alleviated  by  reading 
the  Gothic  and  uncouth  poems  of  pious  George 
Herbert.  This  relief,  however,  was  only  for 
a  season.  His  thoughts  were  constantly  tend- 
ing back  towards  the  same  turbid  channel 
from  which  they  had  been  diverted.  Then 
again  he  would  be  tempted  to  all  sorts  of 
evil — to  murmuring  against  Providence,  scep- 
ticism, disgust  of  life,  and  even  to  suicide. 
And  yet,  whenever  relief  came,  even  for  a  sea- 
son, it  was  attended  with  a  renewed  interest 
in  the  Bible,  and  a  lively  faith  in  its  distin- 
guishing doctrines.  The  longest  and  happiest 
period  of  his  life  was  at  St.  Albans,  under 
the  care  of  Dr.  Cotton,  a  physician  as  capable 


94  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

of  administering  to  the  spiritnal  as  to  the 
natural  maladies  of  his  patients.  The  vast 
black  wall  which  he  represented  as  visibly 
erected  between  himself  and  heaven,  Dr.  Moore 
says,  was  some  impediment  to  the  right  action 
of  his  brain  in  relation  to  thought  and  sight. 
His  disease  was  kept  up  by  monotony  and 
medicine.  There  were  none  but  quackish  at- 
tempts at  cure,  except  while  under  the  care 
of  Dr.  Cotton,  who  for  a  time  relieved,  and, 
had  his  advice  been  properly  followed  out, 
would  have  probably  cured  him.  It  was  from 
his  treatment  that  Cowper  first  obtained  a 
clear  view  of  those  sublime  and  animatinjij 
truths  which  so  distinguished  and  exalted  his 
future  strains  as  a  poet.  Here  also  he  re- 
ceived that  settled  tranquillity  and  peace, 
which  he  enjoyed  for  several  years  afterwards. 
So  far,  therefore,  was  his  constitutional  malady 
from  being  produced  or  increased  by  his  evan- 
gelical connections,  either  at  St.  Albans  or  at 
Olney,  that  he  seems  never  to  have  had  any 
settled  peace  but  from  the  truths  learned  in 
these  societies.     It  appears  that  among  them 


ON   RELIOTOUS   EXPERIENCE,  95 

alone  he  found  the  only  sunshine  he  ever 
enjoyed  through  "  tlic  cloudy  day  of  his 
afflicted  life."  While  residing  with  this  ex- 
cellent friend,  his  distress  was  for  a  long  time 
entirely  removed  by  the  passage  in  Romans: 
Him  hath  Go(l„set  forth  to  he  a  projJitiatioti, 
through  faith  in  his  bloody  to  declare  his  right- 
eousness for  the  remission  of  sins  that  are  past. 
In  this  scripture  he  saw  the  remedy  which 
(lod  provides  for  the  relief  of  a  guilty  con- 
science, with  such  clearness,  that,  for  several 
years  after,  his  heart  was  filled  with  love,  and 
his  life  occupied  with  prayer,  praise,  and  doing 
good  to  all  as  he  had  opportunitg.  Mr.  New- 
ton told  me,  Cecil  says,  that  from  Cowper's 
first  coming  to  Olney,  it  was  observed  he  had 
studied  his  Bible  with  sucli  advantage,  and 
was  so  well  acquainted  Avitli  its  design,  that 
not  only  his  troubles  were  removed,  but  that 
to  the  end  of  his  life  he  never  had  clearer 
views  of  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  the  gospel 
than  now  when  he  first  became  an  habitual 
hearer  of  them.  That  during  this  period  the 
inseparable   attendants   of   a   lively   faith   ap- 


96  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

peared,  by  his  exerting  himself  to  the  utmost 
of  his  power  in  every  benevolent  service  he 
could  render  to  his  poor  neighbours;  and  that 
Mr.  Newton  used  to  consider  him  as  a  sort 
of  curate,  from  his  constant  attendance  upon 
the  sick  and  afflicted  in  that  large  and,  neces- 
sitous parish. 


ON   RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  97 


CIIATTEU   II. 

USES   OP    KNOWLEDGE    OX    THIS    SUBJECT. 

I  was  a  stricken  deer,  tbat  left  the  herd 

Long  since.     With  many  an  arrow  deep  infixed 

My  panting  sides  were  charged. — Cowper. 

Though  the  character  of  this  discussion,  as 
well  as  its  limited  scope,  have  precluded  many 
important  remarks  which  come  within  the 
province  of  the  physiologist,  yet  much  that 
might  be  written  is  rendered  unnecessary,  by 
a  knowledge  which  many  derive  from  their 
own  experience.  It  is  a  subject  which,  as  we 
have  said  before,  is  too  little  examined  and 
understood.  "Many  of  our  young  preachers," 
Dr.  Alexander  says,  in  his  instructive  book 
on  Religious  Experience,  "  when  they  go  forth 
on  their  important  errand,  are  poorly  qualified 
to  direct  the  doubting  conscience,  or  to  ad- 
minister safe  consolation  to  the  troubled  in 
9 


98  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

spirit.  And  in  modern  preaching  there  is 
little  account  made  of  the  various  distressing 
cases  of  deep  affliction  under  which  many 
serious  persons  are  suffering.  To  no  small 
proportion  of  the  religious,  both  teachers  and 
people,  it  seems  to  be  a  profound  secret,  how 
much  the  exercises  of  a  changed  heart  may 
be  affected  by  the  health  or  the  condition 
of  the  body."  They  cannot  understand  how 
a  man's  brain  and  nervous  system  may  so 
suffer  from  faults  in  his  digestive  organs,  as 
to  produce  irritability  of  temper,  unsteadi- 
ness in  any  pursuit  or  application,  distrust  of 
friends,  fear  of  evil  tidings,  and  doubts  con- 
cerning his  own  salvation.  These  are  com- 
monly regarded  as  moral  affections,  whereas 
they  are  in  reality  physical  evils,  which  are 
to  be  remedied  or  removed  by  physical  means. 
They  are.  as  legitimately  symptoms  of  disease 
as  is  nausea,  dimness  of  vision,  or  headache. 
And  is  a  man  unable  to  judge  himself,  much 
less  is  he  qualified  to  meet  the  numerous  cases 
that  are  almost  daily  presented  in  an  exten- 
sive pastoral  charge,  when  unskilled  to  distin- 


ON   RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  99 

guisli,  with  some  degree  of  accuracy,  between 
influences  which  proceed  from  the  body,  and 
the  principles,  disposition,  and  state  of  the 
soul.  As  a  part  of  his  furniture  for  some  of 
the  most  responsible  labours  of  his  calling,  he 
needs  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  a  subject 
so  closely  connected  with  Christian  experience. 
Among  the  counsellors  who  so  much  aided 
the  E,ev.  Timothy  Rogers  in  his  period  of  spi- 
ritual darkness,  he  quotes  old  Mr.  Greenham  as 
saying  "that  there  is  a  great  deal  of  wisdom 
requisite  to  consider  both  the  state  of  the  body 
and  of  the  soul.  If  a  man  that  is  troubled  in 
conscience  comes  to  a  minister,  it  may  be  he 
will  look  all  to  the  soul,  and  no  tiling  to  the 
body;  if  he  cometh  to  a  physician,  he  con- 
sidereth  the  body,  and  neglecteth  the  soul. 
For  my  part,  I  would  never  have  the  physi- 
cian's counsel  despised,  nor  the  labour  of  the 
minister  neglected;  because  the  soul  and  body 
dwelling  together,  it  is  convenient  that  as  the 
soul  should  be  cured  by  the  word,  by  prayer, 
by  fasting,  or  by  comforting,  so  the  body  must 
be  brought  into  some  temperature  by  physic 


100  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

and  diet,  by  hannless  diversions,  and  such  like 
ways — providing  always,  that  it  be  so  done  in 
the  fear  of  God,  as  not  to  think  by  these  ordi- 
nary means  quite  to  smother  or  evade  our 
troubles,  but  to  use  them  as  preparatives, 
whereby  our  souls  may  be  made  more  capable 
of  the  spiritual  methods  that  arc  to  follow 
afterwards." 

The  practical  uses  of  the  knowledge  of 
which  we  come  to  speak  now,  cannot  be  fully 
enumerated,  nor  adequately  described.  As  the 
apostle  says  of  the  inspired  truth  which  he 
commends  to  Timothy,  we  would  say,  that  it 
"is  profitable  for" 

Doctrine. 

We  mean  to  say,  that  here  is  presented  a 
theory  in  casuistic  divinity  which  solves  in- 
numerable cases  of  constant  occurrence,  by 
which  many  are  often  confounded  without  it. 
It  is  admitted  that  there  is  a  difficulty  to  be 
encountered,  in  turning  such  doctrine  on  the 
subject  of  our  spiritual  maladies  to  a  benefi- 
cial result,  on  account  of  the  inability  to  con- 
vince  the   sufi'erer   of  the   real   cause   of  his 


ON    ttELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  101 

despondency.  lie  seems  to  luck  the  capacity 
of  perceiving,  or  of  applying  the  sort  of  truth 
Avliicli  his  case  requires,  however  plainly  it 
may  be  set  before  him;  for,  as  President  IaI- 
^vards  observes,  in  speaking  of  Braincrd,  it  is 
rare  that  melancholy  people  are  sensible  of 
their  own  disease — and  that  such  things  arc 
to  be  ascribed  to  it  as  are  undoubtedly  its 
genuine  fruits  or  effects.  Otherwise  we  should 
be  amazed  at  the  perplexity  and  disconsolatc- 
ness  of  some  excellent  characters,  and  tlie 
readiness  with  which  they  refuse  to  be  com- 
forted. Even  the  acute  and  discriminating 
Dr.  Rush,  so  skilful  in  explaining  and  reliev- 
ing the  maladies  of  others,  was  utterly  de- 
ceived in  relation  to  his  own.  His  Essay  on 
the  Influence  of  Physical  Causes  upon  tlic 
Moral  Faculty,  evinces  mature  reflection,  and 
accurate  knowledge  on  this  subject;  and  yet, 
when,  in  a  state  of  religious  despondency  him- 
self, he  was  assured  by  his  pastor  that  it  was 
a  symptom  of  disease,  he  could  not  believe  it. 
Nor  did  he  become  fully  convinced  that  the 
cause  of  his  spiritual  distress  was  physical, 
9* 


102  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

until  it  had  been  removed  by  the  improvement 
of  his  general  health.  Indeed  it  is  commonly 
found,  that  where  mental  depression  results 
from  impaired  health,  our  attempts  to  relieve 
the  mind  by  counsel  tend  rather  to  aggravate 
its  sorrow,  so  long  as  the  physical  cause  re- 
mains unmitigated.  The  Eev.  Thomas  Boston 
was,  at  one  time,  in  such  a  state  of  doubt  and 
spiritual  depression  during  his  ministry,  with- 
out perceiving  the  cause,  that  he  was  tempted 
to  give  it  up.  But  although  this  eminent 
Christian  scholar  was  in  so  great  darkness 
himself,  he  was  a  hurning  and  a  shining  light 
to  others.  His  exposition  of  Providence,  under 
the  quaint  title  of  "Crook  in  the  Lot,"  sur- 
passes any  work  of  the  kind  in  our  language. 
"I  do  not  know  that  I  could  point  out  a 
work,"  Dr.  A.  Alexander  says,  ".which  is  so 
well  adapted  to  reconcile  the  afflicted  saint  to 
his  lot  in  this  world,  and  help  him  to  improve 
the  dealings  of  Providence  towards  him,  espe- 
cially in  the  'dark  and  cloudy  day'  of  adver- 
sity." 

A  late  preacher,  well  known  by  his  manifold 


ON    IIELIGIOL'S    EXPERIENCE.  1  (Jo 

useful  labours,  Avritcs  in  his  diary: — "Many  of 
my  people,  and  especially  females,  talk  thus  to 
me — 'I  am  under  continual  distress  of  mind; 
I  can  lay  hold  of  no  permanent  ground  of 
peace.  If  I  seem  to  get  a  little,  it  is  soon 
gone  again.  I  am  out  at  sea,  ■without  compass 
or  anchor.  INIy  heart  sinks,  my  spirit  faints, 
my  knees  tremble;  all  is  dark  above,  and  all 
is  horror  beneath.'  'And  pray,  what  is  your 
mode  of  life'?'  'I  sit  by  myself.'  'In  this 
small  room,  I  suppose,  and  over  your  fire'?' 
'A  considerable  part  of  my  time.'  'And  what 
time  do  you  go  to  bed"?'  'I  cannot  retire  till 
two  or  three  o'clock  in  the  morning.'  'And 
you  lie  late,  I  suppose,  in  the  morning  f  '  Fre- 
quently.' 'And  pray  what  else  can  you  ex- 
pect from  this  mode  of  life  than  a  relaxed 
and  unstrung  system,  and,  of  course,  a  mind 
enfeebled,  anxious,  and  disordered^  I  under- 
stand your  case;  God  seems  to  have  qualified 
me  to  understand  it,  by  special  dispensations. 
My  natural  disposition  is  gay,  volatile,  spirited. 
My  nature  would  never  sink.  But  I  liave 
sometimes  felt  my  spirit  absorbed  in  horrible 


104  INFLUENCE   OF    HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

appreliensions,  without  any  assignable  natural 
cause.  Perhaps  it  was  necessary  I  should  be 
suffered  to  feel  this,  that  I  mi^ht  feel  for 
others;  for  certainly  no  man  can  have  any 
adequate  sympathy  with  others,  who  has  never 
thus  suffered  himself  I  can  feel  for  you, 
therefore,  while  I  tell  you  that  I  think  the 
affair  with  you  is  chieiiy  physical.  1  myself 
have  brought  on  the  same  feelings  by  the  same 
means.  I  have  sat  in  my  study  till  I  have 
persuaded  myself  that  the  ceiling  was  too  low 
to  suffer  me  to  stand  and  rise  upright,  and  air 
and  exercise  alone  could  remove  the  impres- 
sion from  my  mind.' " 

In  the  last  illness  of  the  commentator  Scott, 
his  mind  was  observed  by  his  friends  to  be 
gloomy  during  the  paroxysm  of  his  fever;  nor 
could  his  comfort  be  restored  by  any  counsel 
of  his  pious  attendants,  until  the  fever  had 
abated.  Andrew  Fuller  also  suffered  greatly 
on  his  deathbed,  from  a  similar  cause.  So 
when  Dr.  INIadan  once  attempted  to  calm  the 
mind  of  Cowper,  by  quotations  from  the  Scrip- 
tures, it  served  only  to  increase  his  sufferings. 


ON    UKl.UilUUS    EXPERIENCE.  105 

irwas  then  at  the  commencement  of  a  shnv 
nervous  fever,  to  which  he  was  liable;  but  after 
four  months  skilful  treatment  by  Dr.  Cotton, 
his  health  was  so  far  improved  that  the  pro- 
mises of  the  gospel  were  apprehended  without 
hesitation,  and  whatever  his  friend  Madan  had 
said  to  him  long  before,  revived,  in  all  its 
clearness.  An  aged  minister  of  the  gospel 
says,  we  have  known  persons,  who  were  poor 
in  spirit^  hungering  and  thirsting  after  right- 
eousness, glorying  only  in  the  cross  of  Christ, 
and  yet  gloomily  concluding  that  they  have 
no  lot  nor  part  in  the  matter,  and  that  their 
heart  is  not  right  with  God.  And  why'?  The 
reason  is  to  be  found  in  something  beyond 
the  preacher's  province;  and  till  there  is  a 
change  in  the  animal  economy,  all  the  succours 
of  religion  are  in  vain. 

In  an  admirable  review  of  a  paper  on  Moral 
Causes  of  Disease,  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Royal  Academy  of  Medicine  in  Paris,  the  au- 
thor reproaches  his  medical  brethren  for  their 
ignorance  or  neglect.  lie  chides  them  for 
the  overlooking  of  psychological  causes  of  dis- 


106  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

case,  and  of  the  influence  of  mental  emotions 
on  its  development,  its  progress,  and  its  termi- 
nation. "  If  a  patient  dies,"  he  says,  "  we  open 
his  body,  rummage  the  viscera,  and  scrutinize 
most  narrowly  all  the  organs  and-  tissues,  in 
the  hope  of  discovering  lesions  of  some  one 
sort  or  another.  There  is  not  a  small  mem- 
brane, cavity,  nor  follicle,  which  is  not  care- 
fully examined.  One  thing  only  escapes  our 
attention,  which  is  this — we  are  looking  at 
merely  organic  effects,  forgetting  all  the  while 
that  we  must  mount  higher  up,  to  discover 
their  causes.  These  organic  alterations  are 
observed,  perhaps,  in  the  body  of  a  person  who 
has  suffered  deeply  from  mental  distress  and 
anxiety,  which  have  been  the  energetic  cause 
of  his  decay;  but  they  cannot  be  studied  in 
the  laboratory,  nor  in  the  amphitheatre."  An- 
other profitable  use  of  this  subject  is,  for  the 
promotion  of 

Charity. 

So  far  as  it  is  understood  and  practically 
felt,  it  will  make  us  pause  before  we  censure 
those  of  our  brethren  whose  condition  rather 


ON   RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  107 

claims  our  condolence  and  hearty  commisera- 
tion, A\'c  tliink  them  morose,  hypochondriac, 
or  misanthropic;  assail  tliein  with  raillery  and 
hanter,  and  anon  with  reproof  for  feelings  of 
sadness,  which  they  can  no  more  resist  nor 
control,  than  they  can  prevent  a  flushed  cheek 
in  fever,  or  a  yellow  skin  in  jaundice.  "We 
might  as  well  jeer  at  Dr.  AVatts  for  his  pigmy 
size,  at  Pope  for  his  deformity,  or  at  Milton 
for  his  blindness.  Dr.  John  Cheyne  says,  that 
of  all  the  miseries  which  afflict  human  life,  or 
relate  principally  to  the  body  in  this  valley 
of  tears,  I  tliink  "  nervous  disorders,  in  their 
extreme  and  last  degree,"  are  the  most  de- 
plorable, and  beyond  all  comparison  the  worst. 
And  yet  there  are  many  in  society,  even  among 
the  intelligent,  who  are  accustomed  to  treat  all 
such  cases  of  nervous  disorder,  as  only  imagi- 
nary complaints,  which  are  better  managed  by 
ridicule  than  by  sober  counsel,  whether  medi- 
cal or  religious.  In  order  to  cure  them,  they 
think  it  necessary  only  to  divert  the  attention 
of  the  sufferer,  and  convince  him  that  he  will 
be  well  enough  and  recover  his  lost  cheerful- 


108  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

ness,  if  he  will  but  cease  to  brood  over  his 
own  wretchedness,  mix  in  society,  and  think 
of  other  things  beside  himself.  "Many  will 
say  to  such  an  one,  'Why  do  you  so  pore 
over  your  case,  and  thus  gratify  the  deviH' 
Whereas  it  is  the  very  nature  of  the  disease 
to  cause  such  fixed  musing.  You  might  as 
well  say  to  a  man  in  a  fever,  'Why  are  you 
not  wein  why  will  you  be  sick^'  Some,  in- 
deed, suppose  that  the  melancholy  hug  their 
disease  and  are  unwilling  to  give  it  up.  You 
might  as  well  suppose  that  a  man  would  be 
pleased  with  lying  on  a  bed  of  thorns."  The 
reason  of  their  utter  misapprehension  of  such 
cases,  is  their  own  happy  exemption  from  all 
that  sort  of  morbid  wretchedness  which  they 
treat  with  so  much  levity  in  others,  without 
knowing  what  they  do.  To  persons  of  this 
description,  moreover,  all  our  disquisitions  on 
the  moral  effect  of  physical  causes,  are  much 
like  a  treatise  in  Tamul  or  Hindostanee:  they 
have  no  just  conception  of  our  meaning,  nor 
of  the  utility  of  what  we  say.  Nor  is  it 
among  the  lighter   afflictions   of  the   subjects 


UN    HKl.ltMors    F.XrFniKNTF,.  K't* 

of  nervous  affections,  that  they  receive  so  little 
charity  or  sympathy  from  others  whose  gene- 
ral intelligence,  and  especially  religious  pre- 
tensions, would  warrant  them  to  expect  more 
courtesy  at  least,  if  not  greater  tenderness. 
"It  is  a  foolish  course  which  some  take  with 
their  melancholy  friends,  to  answer  all  their 
complaints  and  moans  with  this — that  it  is 
nothing  but  fancy;  nothing  but  imagination 
and  whimsey.  It  is  a  real  disease,  a  real 
misery,  that  they  are  tormented  with;  and  if 
it  be  a  fancy,  yet  a  diseased  fancy  is  as  great 
a  disease  as  any  other;  it  fills  them  with  an- 
guish and  tribulation.  But  this  so  disordered 
fancy  is  the  consequent  of  a  greater  evil,  and 
one  of  the  sad  effects  that  are  produced  by 
that  black  humour  tliat  has  vitiated  all  the 
natural  spirits.  These  afflicted  persons  can 
never  possibly  believe  that  you  pity  them,  or 
that  you  are  heartily  concerned  for  them,  if 
you  do  not  credit  what  they  say;  and  truly  it 
often  falls  out,  that  because  melancholy  persons 
do  not  always  look  very  ill,  or  have  pretty 
good  stomachs,  and  do  not  at  first  very  much 
10 


110  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND   DISEASE 

decline  in  their  bodies,  other  persons,  that 
know  nothing  of  the  distemper,  are  apt  to 
think  that  they  make  themselves  worse  than 
they  are."  But  if  our  subject  is  unintelligible 
to  some,  it  is  not  so  to  others;  we  describe  an 
experience  with  which  they  are  wofully  famil- 
iar; and  while  they  are  not  slow  to  condemn 
themselves  for  their  fretfulness,  irritability  of 
temper,  and  many  obliquities  of  feeling  and 
conduct  which  they  so  frequently  betray,  yet 
their  faults,  however  numerous,  will  be  judged 
with  least  severity  by  those  who  best  under- 
stand the  cause.  With  nerves  so  disordered 
and  unstrung,  there  is  need  of  far  more  vigi- 
lance and  prayer,  to  even  appear  cheerful  and 
amiable,  than  most  good  men,  without  very 
special  grace,  are  able  to  maintain.  "A  man 
may  be  a  good  performer,  but  what  can  he  do 
'with  a  disordered  instrument  1  The  occupant 
of  a  house  may  have  good  eyes,  but  how  can 
he  see  accurately  through  a  soiled  window"? 
Let  the  organ  be  put  in  tune,  and  the  glass  be 
made  clean,  before  you  call  in  question  the 
musical   skill   of  the   one,   or   the  eyesight  of 


ON    RKLIOIOUS    EXPERIENCE.  Ill 

tlie  other."  Harsh  speeches  may  fret,  perplex, 
and  enrage,  but  will  never  do  the  sufferers 
any  good.  In  his  excellent  counsels  on  the 
subject  of  spiritual  depression,  Mr.  Rogers 
says: — "Some  indeed  will  advise  you  to  chide 
and  rebuke  them  upon  all  occasions;  but  I 
dare  confidently  say,  such  advisers  never  felt 
this  disease ;  for  if  they  had,  they  would  know 
that  by  such  a  method  they  do  but  pour  oil 
into  tlic  flame,  and  chafe  and  exasperate  their 
wounds  instead  of  healing  them.  Mr.  Dod,  by 
reason  of  his  mild,  meek,  and  merciful  spirit, 
was  reckoned  one  of  the  fittest  persons  to  deal 
with  people  thus  afflicted.  Never  was  any 
minister  more  tender  and  compassionate.  If 
you  would  be  serviceable  to  such  persons,  you 
must  not  vex  them  with  tart  and  rigorous  dis- 
course. It  causes  many  poor  souls  to  cherish 
and  conceal  their  troubles,  to  their  greater  tor- 
ment, because  they  meet  with  so  very  harsh 
entertainment  from  those  to  whom  they  have 
begun  to  explain  their  case.  Our  blessed  Lord 
and  principal  Physician,  was  meek  and  lowly, 
and   would   not    break    the   bruised   reed,   nor 


112  INFLUENCE    OF    REALTII    AND    DISEASE 

quench  the  smohing  jla,v.  And  the  first  visit 
that  the  forementioned  Mr.  Dod  made  to  INlr. 
Peacock  in  his  anguish,  was  to  put  him  in 
mind  of  God's  kindness. 

Sunt  verba  et  voces,  quibus  hunc  lenire  dolorem 
Passis,  et  magnam  morbi  deponcre  partem. — Hor.  Epist. 
The  power  of  words  and  soothing  sounds  can  ease 
The  raging  pain  and  lessen  the  disease. — Francis. 

Another  most  important  use  of  this  subject 
is  for 

Reproof  and  Correction. 

When  thoroughly  examined  and  well  under- 
stood, it  exposes  and  explodes  the  popular 
error  in  relation  to  those  disordered  states  of 
the  mind  that  are  supposed  by  many  to  be 
produced  by  religion.  Such  events  are  deplor- 
able whenever  they  occur,  and  whatever  the 
occasion;  but  it  would  certainly  be  a  remark- 
able exception  to  the  general  doctrines  of  phi- 
losophy as  well  as  of  religion,  if  it  could  be 
proved  that  these  are  the  legitimate  effect  of 
so  pure  and  benignant  a  cause.  "  This  one 
thing  I  must  testify,"  Dr.  Alexander  says,  "  that 
I  never  knew  the  most  pungent  convictions  of 


ON    Ul'.IJdlOUS    KXPERIENCE.  llo 

X 

sill  to  terminate  in  insanity;  and  as  to  the 
aft'ections  of  love  to  God  and  the  lively  hope 
of  everlasting  life  producing  insanity,  it  is  too 
absurd  for  any  one  to  believe  it."  We  readily 
concede  that  this  belongs  to  a  legion  of  evils, 
intellectual  and  moral,  as  well  as  physical, 
which  are  the  natural  product  of  fanaticism 
and  superstition;  and  this  explains  the  fact, 
that  before  the  revolution  so  large  a  propor- 
tion of  the  insane  in  France  were  monks.  In- 
deed, it  is  difficult  to  account  for  many  of  the 
effects  of  enthusiasm  in  any  other  way,  than 
by  supposing  it  to  be  a  species  of  insanity  in 
which  the  aberration  relates  usually  to  one 
subject,  while  in  others  the  judgment  is  sound. 
And  it  is  perfectly  obvious,  that  the  greatly 
multiplied  cases  of  this  kind  of  mental  dis- 
order at  the  present  time,  in  different  parts 
of  our  country,  are  the  offspring  of  certain 
epidemical  delusions  by  which  we  have  been 
sorely  afflicted  of  late,  and  which  have  been 
promoted  by  nothing  so  much  as  by  the  notice 
of  others,  and  especially  their  attempts  to  sup- 
press them  by  coercion.  But  we  arc  sustained, 
10* 


114  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

not  by  the  liighcst  medical  authority  only,  but 
by  a  faithful  examination  of  the  statistics  of 
insanity,  when  we  assert  that  the  hallucina- 
tions of  those  persons  whose  mental  disorder  is 
imputed  to  religion,  "  are  the  result  of  pre- 
existing disease,  and  only  take  their  form  from 
the  accidental  habits  and  feelings  of  the  pa- 
tients." This  has  been  so  fully  demonstrated, 
that  scarcely  any  modern  writer  of  eminence 
advocates  the  opposite  opinion.  From  the 
numerous  authors  whose  testimony  is  easily 
accessible,  we  will  quote  a  paragraph  from  two 
or  three,  who  are  in  the  highest  repute. 

Dr.  George  Moore,  member  of  the  lloyal 
College  of  Physicians,  London,  says:  "That 
bodily  disorder  which  favours  the  manifestation 
of  the  mind  in  an  insane  manner,  may  be 
produced  by  any  of  our  passions  when  unre- 
strained by  a  holy  understanding.  The  best 
blessings  may  thus  be  converted  into  curses; 
the  best  gifts  into  the  most  injurious  agents. 
Some  say  religion  is  a  frequent  cause  of  In- 
sanity. No;  true  religion  is  the  spirit  of  love, 
of  power,   and   of  a  sound  mind;   ever  active 


\< 


ON    ItKI.KIIOUS    KXI'KIUENCK.  115 

in  diversified  duties  and  delights;  always  busy 
in  a  becoming  manner,  and  in  decent  order. 
But  the  wild  notions,  unmeaning  superstitions, 
spiritual  bondage,  unrequired  and  forbidden 
attempts  to  reconcile  the  rites  and  ceremonies 
which  wayward  men  have  substituted  for  the 
liberty  of  God,  begin  in  disobedience  and  end 
in  darkness.  It  is  strange  fire  in  the  censer 
which  brings  down  the  flaming  vengeance,  and 
opens  a  passage  to  the  infinite  abyss." 

Of  those  subjects  of  what  is  called  religious 
melancholy,  or  religious  madness,  who  come 
under  medical  treatment.  Dr.  Ashbel  Green 
says :  "  It  is  undeniable  that  the  greater  part 
are  such  as  would  previously  be  termed  irreli- 
gious persons.  Their  religious  anxiety  has  com- 
menced with  their  mental  aberration,  and  has 
disappeared  on  the  restoration  of  health.  In 
such  cases,  though  the  apprehension  of  divine 
anger  may  not  seem  unreasonable,  it  is  as 
really  an  illusion  as  if  the  despondency  had 
assumed  the  most  alarming  type.  In  flict, 
where  religious  anxiety  or  excitement  has  any 
share  in  producing  mental  aberration,  this  will 


IIG  INFLUENCE    Oi'    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

generally  put  on  the  form  of  irreligious  pro- 
faneness,  or  something  contradictory  of  the 
previous  healthful  state  of  mind." 

In  regard  to  what  are  called  the  moral 
causes  of  insanity,  Dr.  Abercrombie  says:  "I 
suspect  there  has  been  a  good  deal  of  fallacy, 
arising  from  considering  as  a  moral  cause,  that 
which  was  really  a  part  of  the  disease.  This, 
I  think,  applies  in  a  peculiar  manner  to  the 
important  subject  of  religion,  which  by  a  com- 
mon but  very  loose  method  of  speaking,  is 
often  mentioned  as  a  cause  of  insanity.  But 
where  there  is  a  constitutional  tendency  to 
insanity,  or  to  melancholy,  one  of  its  leading 
modifications,  every  subject  is  distorted  to 
which  the  mind  can  be  directed;  and  none 
more  frequently  or  more  remarkably,  than  reli- 
gious belief.  This,  however,  is  the  efi'ect,  not 
the  cause;  and  the  various  forms  which  it 
assumes  may  be  ascribed  to  the  subject  being 
one  to  which  the  minds  of  all  men  are  so 
naturally  directed  in  one  degree  or  another, 
and  of  which  no  man  living  can  divest  him- 
self." 


OS    RELUilOLS    KXPEUIKNCE.  117 

f 

Dr.  Burrowcs  asserts,  in  his  well  known 
work  on  insanity,  "  that  there  is  not  a  tittle 
of  evidence  to  substantiate  that  Christianity, 
abstractedly,  ever  made  a  person  insane.  Such 
an  accusation  is  only  one  of  the  abortions  of 
infidelity,  or  of  those  who  lack  knowledge." 

In  Dr.  Cheyne's  interesting  work  on  partial 
derangement  of  mind  in  supposed  connection 
with  religion,  he  says:  "I  never  saw  a  case  of 
mental  derangement,  even  where  it  was  trace- 
able to  a  moral  cause,  in  which  there  was  not 
reason  to  believe  that  bodily  disease  could 
have  been  detected  before  the  earliest  aberra- 
tion, had  an  opportunity  of  examination  been 
offered.  Not  only  does  every  deranged  state 
of  the  intellectual  faculties  and  the  natural 
affections  depend  upon  bodily  disease,  but  de- 
rangements of  the  religious  and  moral  senti- 
ments also." 

And,  not  to  multiply  authorities,  we  will  add 
no  more  than  a  paragraph  from  Dr.  Combe, 
who,  in  full  concurrence  with  the  others, 
maintains  that  "when  fixirly  examined,  the 
danger  is  seen  to  arise  solely  from  the  abuse 


118  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

of  religion;  and  indeed,  that  the  best  safe- 
guard is  found  in  a  right  understanding  of  its 
principles  and  submission  to  its  precepts.  For 
if  the  best  Christian  be  he  who,  in  meekness, 
humility,  and  sincerity,  places  his  trust  in  God, 
and  seeks  to  fulfil  all  his  commandments,  then 
he  who  exhausts  his  soul  in  devotion,  and  at 
the  same  time  finds  no  leisure  or  no  inclina- 
tion for  attending  to  the  common  duties  of  his 
station,  and  who,  so  far  from  arriving  at  hap- 
piness or  peace  of  mind,  becomes  every  day 
the  more  estranged  from  them,  and  finds  him- 
self at  last  involved  in  disease  and  despair, 
cannot  be  held  as  a  follower  of  Christ,  but 
must  rather  be  held  as  the  follower  of  a  phan- 
tom assuming  the  aspect  of  religion.  When 
insanity  attacks  the  latter,  it  is  obviously  not 
religion  that  is  the  cause;  it  is  only  the  abuse 
of  certain  feelings,  the  regulated  activity  of 
which  is  necessary  to  the  right  exercise  of  reli- 
gion; and  against  such  abuse,  a  sense  of  true 
religion  would  have  been  the  most  powerful 
pi'otection." 

Dr.  James  Johnson  contends  that  in  every 


ON    RELIGIOUS    EXrERIENOE.  11!) 

I 

case  where  the  mind  is  said  to  be  diseased, 
it  ought  to  be  considered  as  only  a  figure  of 
rhetoric ;  that  mind  is  merely  an  in^isible 
agent,  manifesting  itself  solely  through  the 
medium  of  the  corporeal  organs.  When  these 
last  arc  deranged,  the  mental  manifestations 
must  also  be  deranged;  but  the  mind  itself 
remains  unchanged,  unassailable,  imperishable. 
Even  in  insanity,  it  is  not  the  mind  which  is 
diseased.  Some  portion  of  the  brain  is  de- 
ranged, and  then  the  mind  can  no  more  mani- 
fest itself  sanely,  than  a  musician  can  bring 
forth  harmonious  notes  from  an  untuned  in- 
strument. As  the  mind  is  not  material,  neither 
is  it  liable  to  disease  or  death.  If  we  once 
admit  that  it  is  subject  to  the  one,  we  must 
inevitably  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is 
liable  to  the  other!  With  the  essence  or  na- 
ture of  mind,  we  are,  and  ever  shall  be  igno- 
rant. It  is  with  the  corporeal  organs,  through 
which  it  reveals  its  actions,  that  we  have  to 
do.  If  these  have  come  into  an  abnormal  or 
sickly  condition,  the  effect  will  be  often  visible 
in    the   corresponding    state   of  the   intellect: 


120  IXFLUEXCf:    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

and  if,  at  such  a  time,  tlioy  be  specially  con- 
versant with  the  subject  of  morals  and  religion, 
like  a  jaundiced  eye,  it  will  impart  its  morbid 
hue  to  them  both. 

The  error  of  hastily  ascribing  religious  me- 
lancholy to  the  direct  agency  or  influence  of 
religion,  is  exposed  in  the  account  given  of  a 
patient  in  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital  in  1842, 
by  Dr.  Kirkbride,  Physician  to  the  institution. 

"A  young  man  of  very  moderate  mental  ca- 
pacity, little  education,  and  accustomed  to  a 
laborious  occupation,  from  too  much  confine- 
ment at  his  business  finds  his  health  failing, 
and  gives  up  his  employment  for  a  few  months, 
to  recruit.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  although 
not  well,  he  is  able  to  return  to  work,  but 
then  discovers  that  the  changes  in  the  times 
make  it  impossible  for  him  to  find  anything 
to  do.  His  means  being  exhausted,  his  body 
weak,  without  his  customary  exercise,  his  mind 
gradually  becomes  in  a  morbid  state,  when 
some  excitement  from  Miller's  prophecy  occur- 
ring in  his  neighbourhood,  he  immediately 
attempts  to  study  the  subject,  and  to  ascertain 


ON    RETJOIOUS    EXPEUIFNTE.  11] 

its  tiiitli  from  close  reading  of  tlic  Bible — an 
investigation  utterly  unsuitecl  for  his  capacity 
under  any  circumstances — and  the  difficulties 
he  encounters  at  the  very  threshhold,  lead  to 
a  violent  attack  of  mania.  The  disease  was 
attributed  to  ' ^tiller's  prophecy,'  or  to  'reli- 
gious excitement,'  but  neither  of  these  causes 
would  give  a  proper  idea  of  the  origin  of  the 
case.  Before  being  excited  on  that  subject, 
the  patient's  mind  was  ready  to  be  overturned 
by  any  abstruse  or  exciting  matter  that  might 
be  presented  to  it.  AVithout  his  loss  of  em- 
ployment this  would  not  have  occurred,  and 
without  the  enfeebled  health  which  accompa- 
nied it,  his  attempted  investigation  might  have 
been  harmless." 

AVithin  the  sphere  of  our  own  pastoral 
labours,  there  have  occurred  four  cases  of  this 
species  of  mental  disorder,  three  of  which  were 
connected  with  known  physical  derangement. 
Two  were  effectually  relieved,  after  a  few 
months,  by  judicious  medical  treatment,  though 
one  of  them  was  so  aggravated  that  the  person 
attempted  suicide,  and  on  one  occasion  nearly 
11 


122  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

effected  it;  the  third  still  lingers,  the  sufferer 
being  a  victim  of  bodily  disease.  In  the  fourth 
there  was  a  constitutional  wildness  on  other 
subjects  than  that  of  religion;  and  although 
his  temperament  was  sanguine,  his  mind  habit- 
ually cheerful,  and  his  hope  of  salvation  un- 
commonly firm,  yet  in  a  moment  of  temptation 
he  was  overcome,  and  destroyed  himself.  An- 
other, whom  we  have  known  for  twenty  years, 
and  esteemed  as  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary 
intellect  and  piety,  has  long  been  subject  to 
periods  of  religious  melancholy,  when  he  sus- 
pends his  business,  loses  all  interest  in  society, 
withdraws  to  his  chamber,  and  remains  for 
weeks  and  months,  until  the  cloud  of  spiritual 
gloom  has  passed;  he  then  returns  to  his  secu- 
lar duties  and  to  the  church,  as  if  he  had 
never  been  otherwise  than  cheerful  and  happy 
in  his  religion,  which  is  at  all  times,  in  sick- 
ness or  health,  his  main  topic  of  conversation. 
No  allusion  is  made  to  the  past,  there  are  no 
inquiries,  and  he  volunteers  to  give  no  infor- 
mation; nor  have  his  friends  or  physicians  ever 
been  able  to  explain  all  the  phenomena  of  this 


ON    RELIUIOUS    EXRERIENCE.  123 

base  by  any  of  the  known  doctrines  of  psycho- 
logy, physiology,  or  religion.  That  his  melan- 
choly is  not  produced  by  liis  religion,  would 
appear  from  the  fact,  that  at  all  other  times 
it  is  the  source  of  his  highest  enjoyment.  But 
as  it  regards  the  cause  of  these  periodical 
changes  in  his  physical  condition  which  occa- 
sion tliis  spiritual  occultation,  we  do  not  hazard 
a  conjecture. 

Not  less  injurious  is  the  mistake  of  imputing 
to  Satanic  agency  what  is  dependent  on  bodily 
disease,  as  is  exhibited  in  the  case  of  the  wife 
of  the  Ivev.  John  Newton,  who  was  unable  to 
leave  the  house  for  nearly  two  years  before  slie 
died,  in  1790.  In  the  beginning  of  October, 
she  was  confined  to  her  bed,  and  was  soon 
after  deprived  of  all  locomotive  power.  In  this 
state,  distress  arose  in  her  mind,  which  applied 
to  the  whole  system  of  truth,  and  she  said, 
"  If  there  be  a  Saviour,"  "  If  there  be  a  God ;" 
and  in  this  condition  continued  for  a  fortnight, 
when  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  her  doubts 
were  removed.  Mr.  Newton  accounted  for  his 
wife's    temporary  unbelief,  by   referring   it    to 


124  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

the  influence  of  Satan.  Mrs.  Newton's,  how- 
ever, was  a  case  of  palsy — depending,  as  was 
supposed,  upon  a  disease  of  the  brain,  by 
which  her  fliith,  the  foundation  of  her  reli- 
gion, was  disturbed,  while  her  affections  were 
uninjured.  It  is  well  known  that  Bunyan 
was  grievously  harassed  at  times  with  what  he 
believed  to  be  satanic  temptations  to  the  worst 
species  of  evil;  and  that  Luther  also  supposed 
himself,  on  one  occasion  at  least,  to  have  been 
assaulted  by  the  devil.  But  with  regard  to 
certain  phenomena  which  it  is  common  to  re- 
fer to  his  influence,  such  as  "  unbidden  and 
repulsive  thoughts  and  feelings,  and  false  per- 
ceptions, both  voices  and  visions,  that  they 
may  be  produced  by  mere  morbid  physical 
agency,  is  unquestionable;  because  they  are 
frequent  accompaniments  of  pure  disease,  and 
yield  with  the  disease,  to  medical  treatment. 
Those,  therefore,  who  are  called  to  counsel 
persons  thus  afflicted,  should  never  lose  sight 
of  the  inquiry,  whether  such  may  not  be  the 
actual  origin  of  what  otherwise  might  be 
treated    as    temptations    of    the    devil.      That 


ON    KKI-KIIULS    EXPERIENCE.  125 

Satan  may  have  the  power  of  injecting  liis 
malicious  or  blasplicmous  suggestions  imme- 
diately into  the  mind,  we  have  not  intended 
at  all  to  controvert.  But  we  are  disposed  to 
adopt  the  principle  of  Dr.  Cheyne,  that,  'if 
an  appeal  to  Ilim  who  conquered  Satan,  and 
who  will  aid  all  who  come  to  him  in  faith, 
fails  to  relieve  those  who  are  thus  afflicted, 
they  may  rest  assured,  that  disease,  and  not 
the  devil,  is  the  enemy  with  which  they  have 
to  contend,'  and  they  must  seek  relief  accord- 
ingly- 

"And  if  we  are  pressed  beyond  this  point 

with  the  hypothesis,  that  while  disease  may  be 
the  proximate  cause  of  these  distressing  and 
horrible  calamities,  yet  Satan  may  be  the  agent 
who  employs  this  instrumentality  to  harass  the 
Christian,  we  should  be  inclined  to  fall  back 
upon  the  ground  thus  quaintly  maintained  by 
Kichard  Baxter:  'If  it  were,  as  some  fancy,  a 
possession  of  the  devil,  it  is  possible  that  physic 
might  cast  him  out.  For  if  you  cure  the 
melancholy,  (black  bile,)  his  bed  is  taken  away, 
and  the  advantage  gone  by  which  he  worketh; 
11* 


126  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

cure  the  cholcr  (bile)  and  the  choleric  opera- 
tions of  the  devil  will  cease:  it  is  by  means 
and  humours  in  us,  that  he  worketh.' " 

But  this  injurious  influence  on  the  mind 
has  been  ascribed,  not  so  much  to  religion  in 
general,  as  to  certain  forms  or  sectarian  modes 
in  which  it  has  been  expounded,  and  that  are 
supposed  to  be  peculiarly  adapted  to  fill  the 
soul  with  gloom  and  despondency.  Hence  the 
maxim,  so  long  in  vogue  among  the  Romanists, 
"  Spiritus  Calvinianus,  est  spiritus  melancholi- 
cus,"  (so  nearly  English  that  we  need  not  trans- 
late it.)  Even  Esquirol  more  than  hints  at 
Calvinism  as,  in  some  cases,  the  cause  of  reli- 
gious melancholy;  and  it  is  well  known  that 
the  sentiment  wrapped  up  in  this  calumnious 
apothegm  was  a  popular  solution  of  the  un- 
happy case  of  Cowper.  Thus,  a  writer  in  the 
Encyclopedia  Britannica  at  that  time,  with 
great  confidence  ascribed  his  mental  malady  to 
the  theory  of  justification  which  he  had  adopt- 
ed, his  natural  disposition  fitting  him  to  receive 
all  the  horrors,  without  the  consolations  of  his 
faith,     Macaulay  also  favours  the  same  opinion. 


ON    RELKilOUS    EXPERIENCE.  127 

by  pronouncing  the  religious  teachers  of  the 
poet  "worthy  of  incineration."  Nor  is  there' 
anything,  we  are  constrained  to  say,  in  tlic 
over  cautious,  imperfect,  and  disingenuous, 
however  interesting  Memoirs  by  Haley,  that 
forbids  this  inference.  And  yet,  it  could  not 
but  have  been  known  by  the  author,  or  rather 
compiler  of  that  work,  that  the  period  of  his 
life,  during  which  he  enjoyed,  together  with 
the  unclouded  sunshine  of  reason,  the  peace 
and  joy  of  religion,  was  the  interval  from  17G4 
to  1773,  when  he  believed  and  openly  pro- 
fessed every  article  of  his  faith,  the  effect  of 
which  was  represented  as  afterward  being  so 
calamitous.  It  was  tlien  that  his  character 
was  exhibited  in  all  its  attractiveness,  unveiled 
by  any  of  the  mists  that  had  come  over  it 
before,  and  which  gathered  again  toward  the 
close  of  his  life.  He  was  more  cheerful  and 
affectionate  in  lii^  intercourse,  partaking  with 
lively  interest  in  the  common  concerns  of  so- 
ciety, and  happy  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  reli- 
gion; and  wlicn  he  became  subsequently  the 
victim  of  his  afflictive  hallucination,  he  could 


128  INFJ.UENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

not  avoid  acknowledging  that  his  gloomy  per- 
suasion was  at  variance  with  every  article  of 
his  creed,  and  he  was  driven  to  regard  himself 
as  an  inexplicable  exception  to  his  own  prin- 
ciples. We  have  sho^vn  already  that  religious 
truth  of  any  kind  had  nothing  to  do  as  a 
procuring  cause  of  Cowper's  malady.  It  was 
as  clearly  a  case  of  hypochondriasis  as  are 
those  instances  in  which  the  patient  has  fan- 
cied himself  a  tea-pot  or  a  sack  of  wool;  or 
as  was  that  of  the  baker  of  Ferrara,  mentioned 
by  an  Italian  Count,  who  thought  himself  a 
lump  of  butter,  and  durst  not  sit  in  the  sun, 
nor  come  near  the  fire,  for  fear  of  being 
melted,  and  his  thinking  substance  destroyed. 
We  maintain  then,  that  this  unhappy  condi- 
tion, which,  without  due  examination,  has  been 
imputed  to  religion,  is  an  effect  produced  by 
physical  causes.  That  a  different  opinion 
should  have  obtained  to  any  extent,  is  to  be 
ascribed  to  misapprehension,  perhaps  in  part, 
but  we  doubt  not  that  more  frequently  it  may 
be  traced  to  another  source,  which  is  thus  no- 
ticed  by  Dr.  C'heyne.     "When   a   man    from 


ON    IlELKilOLS    EXPERIENCE.  129 

'  having  been  worldly  becomes  religious,  there 
is  no  one  against  whom  prejudice  is  stronger. 
No  change  is  less  agreeable,  not  even  a  change 
from  respectability  of  conduct  to  the  sort  of 
profligacy  which  defies  public  opinion,  than 
that  which  leads  a  man,  whose  previous  mo- 
tives were  of  a  purely  secular  kind,  to  make 
the  attainment  of  the  kingdom  of  God  his  first 
object,  by  which  he  necessarily  rises  in  the 
moral  scale.  That  any  one  formerly  on  our 
own  level  should  take,  or  affect  to  take  higher 
ground,  offends  our  self-love.  It  is  a  constant 
rebuke,  by  reminding  us  of  his  superiority  of 
principle.  Ilence,  it  frequently  happens  that 
when  a  man  really  turns  to  God,  first  he  is 
represented  as  a  hypocrite,  then  a  fool,  and  last 
of  all,  a  madman.  That  his  motives  and  his 
judgment  will  be  arraigned,  every  neophyte 
may  expect,  as  being  matter  of  uniform  expe- 
rience; and  that  madness  is  a  consequence  of 
divine  teaching,  is  a  conclusion  which  is  as 
old  as  the  days  of  Fortius  Festus." 

A  well  known  minister  of  London,  who  has 
lately  died,  was  called  to  visit  a  woman  whose 


130  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

mind  was  disordered,  and  on  remarking  that 
it  was  a  case  which  required  the  assistance 
of  a  physician  rather  than  that  of  a  clergy- 
man, her  husband  replied,  "Sir,  we  sent  to 
you  because  it  is  a  religious  case;  her  mind 
has  been  injured  by  constantly  reading  the 
Bible."  "I  have  known  manv  instances,"  I 
replied,  "  of  persons  being  brought  to  their 
senses  by  reading  the  Bible;  but  it  is  possible 
that  too  intense  an  application  to  that,  as  well 
as  to  any  other  subject,  may  have  disordered 
your  wife."  "  There  is  every  proof  of  it,"  said 
he ;  and  was  proceeding  to  multiply  his  proofs, 
till  her  brother  interrupted  him  by  thus  ad- 
dressing me: — "Sir,  I  have  no  longer  patience 
to  stand  by,  and  see  you  imposed  on.  The 
truth  of  the  matter  is  this:  my  brother  has 
forsaken  his  wife,  and  been  long  connected 
with  an  immoral  woman.  He  had  the  best  of 
wives  in  her,  and  one  who  was  strongly  at- 
tached to  him;  but  she  has  seen  his  heart  and 
property  given  to  another,  and,  in  her  solitude 
and  distress,  went  to  the  Bible  as  the  only 
consolation  left  her.     Her  health   and  spirits 


ON    RELK^TOrS    EXPERIENCE.  131 

at  length  sunk  under  her  troubles;  and  there 
she  lies  distracted  —  not  from  reading  her 
Bible — but  from  the  infidelity  and  cruelty  of 
her  husband."  The  reader  need  not  be  told 
that  the  miscreant  made  no  reply  to  his  bro- 
ther's statement,  but  immediately  left  the  room 
in  the  utmost  confusion.  Another  use  of  this 
subject,  and  the  last  which  we  shall  mention, 
is  for 

Consolation. 

And  for  this  grateful  ministry,  its  scope  is 
as  wide  as  the  office  is  benignant.  As  may 
be  well  presumed,  this  doctrine  of  physical 
influences  is  easily  capable  of  being  perverted. 
Some  may  mistake  the  buoyancy  of  animal 
spirits  for  the  influences  of  the  Comforter,  and 
others  may  ascribe  the  motions  of  sins  which 
are  hy  the  law,  to  the  power  of  bodily  disease. 
But  it  is  not  intended  by  this  admission  of 
the  effect  of  physical  causes  upon  the  soul,  to 
ofier  an  apology  for  sin,  to  furnish  a  conve- 
nient excuse  for  indolence,  sullenness,  a  cynical 
temper,  or  any  other  culpable  dispositions  to 
which  a  man  may  be    constitutionally  prone. 


132  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTIF  AND    DISEASE 

All  these  may  be  natural,  but  very  criminal 
nevertheless.  The  difference  is  wide  between 
a  neglect  of  prayer  and  watchfulness  occasioned 
by  great  fatigue  in  the  performance  of  other 
duties,  as  in  the  case  of  the  disciples  in  the 
garden,  and  an  omission  caused  by  giving  way 
to  an  inbred  laziness.  As  a  question  in  morals, 
the  point  is  material  whether  a  man's  hasti- 
ness of  spirit  be  a  symptom  of  hepatic  disease, 
or  the  habitual  prompting  of  a  depraved  and 
neglected  heart.  AVe  are  not  accountable  to 
God  for  the  difference  in  our  complexion,  or  in 
the  length  of  our  limbs,  but  he  justly  makes 
us  responsible  for  the  envy  and  jealousy  and 
malice  of  our  dispositions.  Nor  is  it  enough 
to  refer  such  perplexing  cases  to  the  tribunal 
of  conscience,  in  view  of  the  well  known  influ- 
ence of  various  moral,  as  well  as  physical  causes, 
in  misguiding  its  decisions.  Not  long  ago  we 
received,  in  a  letter,  the  account  of  a  young- 
man  of  fervent  i^iety,  who  was  at  this  time 
preparing  for  the  ministry;  but  in  such  a  state, 
as  to  be  wholly  unable  to  pursue  his  studies. 
For   several  years   he  has  felt   himself  urged 


0\    RELltUOrS!    EXPERIENCE.  1.'j3 

and  iilniost  coerced,  as  he  says,  to  make  various 
vows  to  God,  promising  to  spend  so  many- 
hours  a  day  in  devotional  exercises,  and  to 
keep  days  of  fasting  and  prayer  on  various 
accounts.  These  vows  have  become  so  bur- 
densome, as  to  interfere  with  his  duty  as  well 
as  with  his  peace.  He  has  forgotten  some  of 
the  reasons  for  these  vows,  and  now  he  feels 
himself  solemnly  bound  by  his  vow,  but  knows 
not  what  to  do  to  fulfil  it;  and  some  of  the 
occasions  on  which  days  of  fasting  were  vowed 
to  be  kept,  have  passed,  and  his  vow  not  ful- 
filled, lie  is  kept  awake  a  great  part  of  the 
night,  and  is  incapable  of  study.  "I  endea- 
voured," says  my  informant,  "to  show  him, 
in  what  cases  vows  were  not  binding,  and  flat- 
tered myself  that  I  had  relieved  his  mind,  but 
in  a  few  days  he  came  back,  and  I  went  o^er 
the  whole  again;  but  all  to  little  purpose. 
And  by  this  it  may  be  commonly  known,  that 
the  disease  is  physical,  when  the  clearest  rea- 
soning and  admitted  conclusions  produce  no 
effect." 

"Some  time  since,"   says   the   same   corres- 
12 


134  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

ponclent,  "I  was  consulted  respecting  the  case 
of  a  young  man,  who,  in  obedience  to  his 
conscience,  had  vowed  that  he  would  never 
taste  butter — but  as  this  entered  into  so  many 
kinds  of  food,  he  was  kept  in  continual  per- 
plexity. This,  however,  seems  to  have  been 
merely  a  device  of  Satan." 

"Not  long  ago  there  was  a  pious  and  useful 
pastor  in  the  interior  of  Pennsylvania,  who, 
when  pursuing  his  theological  studies,  resolved 
or  vowed,  against  so  many  kinds  of  food,  be- 
cause they  were  gratifying  to  his  palate,  that 
he  actually  was  suffering  for  want  of  nutritive 
food." 

To  what  extent  such  religious  whims,  or 
any  morbid  exercises  of  persons  in  such  an 
unhealthy  mental  condition  are  culpable,  is 
perhaps  the  most  perplexing  inquiry  which 
this  whole  subject  suggests.  That  man  is 
answerable  for  his  conduct  so  long  as  "  exag- 
gerated irritability  stops  shorts  of  derange- 
ment," would  seem  to  be  an  axiom  in  morals ; 
and  yet  what  shall  we  understand  by  derange- 
ment"?     What   is   that   changed   condition   of 


ON    RELUnoiS   EXPERIENCE.  lo5 

the  man,  or  how  far  must  it  go,  in  order  to 
release  him  for  the  time,  from  the  claims  of 
the  moral  law'?  It  has  been  confidently  as- 
serted, that  the  feelings  produced  by  nervous 
diseases  are  not  strictly  moral,  nor  are  we 
accountable  for  them  except  as  we  are  account- 
able for  inducing  that  state  of  physical  organi- 
zation in  which  they  originate. 

And  admitting  this  also  to  be  true,  those 
cases  will  nevertheless  continually  occur  which 
it  will  occasion  no  little  perplexity  to  decide. 
Moral  qualities,  such  as  pride,  envy,  jealousy, 
covetousness,  &c.,  we  know  are  hereditary,  as 
well  as  those  that  are  intellectual:  "Hence  we 
often  find,"  Dr.  Hush  says,  "certain  virtues 
and  vices  as  peculiar  to  families  through  all 
their  degrees  of  consanguinity  and  duration, 
as  is  a  peculiarity  of  voice,  complexion,  or 
shape."  But  however  this  innate  or  transmit- 
ted tendency  to  certain  kinds  of  evil  may  ex- 
cite commiseration,  we  regard  it  not  so  much 
as  an  apology  for  having  yielded  to  the  incli- 
nation, as  a  cogent  motive  for  continual  vigi- 
lance  against    it.      But    notwithstanding    the 


136  INFLUENCE    OF    nEALTII    AND    DISEASE 

difficulties  with  which  the  subject  is  embar- 
rassed, there  is  nevertheless,  much  in  this  doc- 
trine of  physical  influences  for  the  comfort  of 
those  whose  wretched  experience  often  makes 
it  so  desirable.  It  is  a  relief  to  find  that  they 
were  in  error  concerning  the  nature  of  their 
distressing  affection ;  to  discover  that  what  was 
supposed  to  be  an  infusion  of  Satan,  has  been 
caused,  perhaps,  by  a  mistake  in  the  quality 
or  quantity  of  their  food,  or  by  changes  in 
the  atmosphere.  They  see  the  danger  of 
making  their  feelings  the  test  of  their  Chris- 
tian character,  so  long  as  their  health  is  im- 
paired. Indeed  it  is  painful  to  read  the 
diaries  of  many  eminent  believers,  and  see 
how  they  suffei-ed  from  the  imaginary  belief 
of  the  withdrawment  of  God's  favour,  mani- 
fested, as  they  supposed,  by  the  variable  state 
of  their  feelings.  AVho  but  the  victim  himself 
can  conceive  of  the  wretchedness  of  a  soul  that 
vents  its  anguish  in  language  such  as  the  fol- 
lowing: "I  taste  nothing  but  gall  and  worm- 
wood; nothing  but  misery  and  vexation.  / 
was  at  ease,  hut  he  hath  hrohen  me  asunder;  he 


ON    RtLKilOUS    EXPERIENCE.  137 

hath  taken  mc  bj/  mi)  neck  and  shahcn  mc  to 
pieces^  and  set  me  itp  for  his  mark;  his  archers 
compass  me  round  about;  he  clcaveth  my  reins 
asunder^  and  doth  not  spare;  he  poureth  out  my 
gall  2ipon  the  ground.  I  dare  not  look  up  to 
heaven,  for  there  I  sec  how  great  a  God  I 
have  against  me;  I  dare  not  look  into  his  word, 
for  there  I  see  all  his  threats  as  so  many 
barbed  arrows  to  strike  me  to  the  heart;  I 
dare  not  look  into  the  grave,  because  thence 
I  am  like  to  have  a  doleful  resurrection.  The 
Almighty  is  my  enemy.  The  prayers  of  others 
can  do  me  no  good  unless  I  have  faith,  and  I 
find  I  lia^e  none  at  all,  for  that  would  purify 
and  cleanse  my  heart.  I  do  nothing  else  but 
sin ;  and  God,  as  he  is  holy,  must  set  himself 
against  me,  his  enemy."  The  grand  difficulty 
in  many  of  these  cases,  lies  in  a  deranged  con- 
dition of  the  animal  part.  A  highly  respect- 
able clergyman,  still  living  in  New  England, 
after  having  preached  with  much  acceptance 
and  success  to  a  congregation  for  twenty  years, 
was  called  to  another  field  of  labour ;  the 
change  proving  not  so  happy  in  all  respects 
12* 


138  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISExiSE 

as  he  had  anticipated,  his  health  failed,  and 
with  it  his  hope.  On  entering  the  pulpit  one 
Sabbath  morning,  he  sat  for  a  while,  then 
arose,  and  instead  of  commencing  as  usual  the 
exercises  of  the  day,  he  remarked  to .  the  people 
that  he  had  been  deceived  in  relation  to  his 
personal  religion,  was  not  worthy  of  the  office 
of  a  preacher,  and  could  not  any  longer  dis- 
charge it.  A  physician  who  was  present  called 
on  him  afterwards,  and  was  enabled  to  con- 
vince him  that  tlie  cause  of  his  despondency 
was  physical.  In  the  course  of  two  weeks  of 
medical  treatment  it  was  removed,  his  Chris- 
tian hope  revived,  he  resumed  his  labours  as  a 
preacher,  and  has  continued  to  perform  them 
ever  since  with  comfort  to  himself  and  useful- 
ness to  others. 

So  far  therefore,  as  it  may  be  shown  to  the 
spiritually  depressed  that  their  gloominess  is 
a  symptom  of  disease,  they  may  be  consoled 
by  the  assurance,  that  such  distress  of  their 
soul  is  perfectly  consistent  with  its  regenerate 
state  and  its  safety.  That  the  highest  medical 
authority  teaches,  that  whenever  a  change  in 


ON    UKI,I(iI(ti;S    KXI'KKIKNCE.  loU 

tlio  temper  or  mind  takes  place,  without  a 
plain  and  manifest  moral  cause,  the  condition 
of  the  liver  or  digestive  organs  should  be  exa- 
mined; "for  there  will  be  found  the  origin  of 
the  mischief,  three  times  out  of  four."  Let 
them  resort  then  to  such  remedies  as  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  case  demand,  and  wait  for  relief 
to  be  afforded  through  the  proper  channel. 

The  same  consideration,  moreover,  may  often 
minister  substantial  consolation  in  the  case  of 
departed  friends,  whose  exercises  have  appeared 
more  or  less  ambiguous,  as  flesh  and  heart 
were  failing  under  the  power  of  disease. 

It  is  an  important  observation  of  Pearson, 
in  his  life  of  Mr.  Ilay,  of  Leeds,  that  good 
men  may  be  unreasonably  depressed,  and  bad 
men  elevated,  under  tlie  near  prospect  of  death, 
from  the  mere  operation  of  natural  causes. 
The  Saviour's  declaration  makes  it  fearfully 
certain  that  the  judgment-day  will  reveal  many 
disappointments  of  some  rejected,  who  died  in 
the  confident  hope  of  salvation;  of  others  re- 
ceived, who  left  this  world  in  darkness  and 
despair,     llow  difficult  as  well  as  delicate  then, 


140  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

is  the  task  of  those  who  undertake  to  compile 
the  memoirs  of  the  pious  from  their  diaries, 
or  the  records  of  their  secret  experience! 
How  great  their  need  of  judgment,  sound  dis- 
cretion, and  especially  of  that  knowledge  of 
mental  disorders  and  morbid  influences,  which 
many  of  such  writers  have  evidently  lacked! 
Indeed  we  are  by  no  means  convinced  that 
there  is  not  virtually  a  breach  of  trust  in 
exposing  the  records  of  Christian  experience, 
perhaps  meant  to  be  secret,  to  the  inspection 
of  the  public.  Such  relations,  moreover,  while 
they  have  not  benefitted  the  pious,  have  been 
subjects  of  merriment  to  the  profane. 

That  the  deeply  interesting  biography  of 
Payson  would  have  been  more  valuable  by 
some  omissions,  will  hardly  be  questioned  by 
those  who  regard  the  portions  to  which  we 
refer,  as  indicative  rather  of  the  state  of  his 
health  than  of  the  condition  of  his  soul,  xlnd 
so  of  the  amiable  poet  of  Olney,  who,  through 
the  whole  period  of  his  gloomy  aberrations, 
kept  a  journal  of  his  feelings,  which  Avas  pub- 
lished after  his  decease,  in  ^pite  of  the  earnest 


ON    RELIOIOUS    EXPEIUENCE.  Ill 

expostulations  of  his  more  judicious  friends. 
It  was  re<^arded  by  them  as  a  heartless  viola- 
tion of  the  secrets  of  the  sepulchre,  as  a  throw- 
ing open  of  the  closet  of  the  anatomist  to  the 
gaze  of  the  vulgar,  and  a  yielding  to  the  pry- 
ings  of  a  prurient  curiosity,  under  a  pretence 
of  correcting  certain  false  notions  of  rehgion. 

How  few  of  us  would  be  willing  to  submit 
it  to  the  most  discreet  friend  that  might  sur- 
vive us,  to  draw  our  religious  character  from 
what  we  might  write  from  day  to  day  of  our 
religious  exercises,  under  a  full  conviction  at 
the  time  we  penned  it,  of  its  truth!  We  say 
then,  in  conclusion,  that  while  this  doctrine  is 
never  to  be  used  as  an  excuse  for  wilful  delin- 
quency in  any,  it  may  afford  effective  consola- 
tion to  the  afflicted  believer  when  bowed  down 
with  infirmities  of  soul  which  he  cannot  over- 
come. If  rightly  understood  it  will  tend  not 
only  to  minister  relief,  but  will  make  us  more 
watchful  against  sin  in  all  its  forms,  and  espe- 
cially against  that  to  which  we  have  a  consti- 
tutional bias.  Are  we  naturally  passionate  and 
excitable;  are  we  envious,  proud,  covetous,  or 


Jt' 


142  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

jealous,  it  will  cause  us  to  pray  and  watch 
against  these  besetting  sins  with  peculiar  vigi- 
lance; while  our  numerous  failures  in  this  and 
every  other  duty,  will  make  us  feel  our  abso- 
lute dependence  on  the  Spirit,  both  for  grace 
to  enjoy  our  religion,  and  strength  to  obey  its 
precepts.  Above  all,  it  will  commend  to  our 
hearts  that  great  Redeemer  who  hath  home  our 
griefs^  and  carried  our  sorroivs.  We  shall  look 
away  from  our  desperate  moral  defilement,  to 
that  blood  which  cleanseth  from  all  sin;  from 
our  weakness,  to  his  strength;  from  our  sins, 
to  his  perfect  righteousness.  It  is  but  a  little 
while,  and  he  that  shall  come  will  come,  and  will 
not  tarry.  The  day  of  our  emancipation  is  fast 
approaching,  when  the  earthly  house  of  this 
tabernacle  will  be  exchanged  for  a  huilding  of 
God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in 
the  heavens.  The  spirit  shall  no  more  be  im- 
peded by  the  disorders  of  the  flesh,  for  this 
vile  hody  shall  he  fashioned  like  unto  Chris fs 
glorious  hody. 

But  as   godly  Mason  says,  we    are   not   to 
expect  the  sunshine   of  joy   all   through   this 


ON   RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  143 

vale  of  tears.  Comfortable  frames  and  joyful 
feelings,  though  sweet  and  delightful,  arc  not 
always  most  profitable.  "Were  we  ever  on  the 
mount  of  joy,  we  should  forget  we  are  strangers 
and  pilgrims  on  earth — be  for  building  taber- 
nacles of  rest  in  a  polluted  place,  and  cry  out 
with  the  highly  favoured  disciples,  it  is  good 
for  us  to  he  here.  But  they  knew  not  what 
they  said.  It  is  the  glory  of  a  Christian  to 
live  by  faith  on  Jesus;  to  judge  of  his  love 
by  the  word  of  truth,  more  than  by  sense  and 
feeling; — yea,  under  dejection  and  disquiet  of 
soul,  to  hope  and  trust  in  God;  to  check  and 
rebuke  one's  self  for  doubts  and  diffidence,  is 
the  real  exercise  of  faith.  Thy  frames  may 
vary  with  tlie  changes  of  thy  health  and  of  thy 
mortal  part,  but  the  foundation  of  God's  love 
standeth  sure.  Thou  mayest  meet  with  many 
things  from  within  and  without  to  cast  down 
and  disquiet  thee;  but  thou  art  called  to  look 
to  Jesus,  and  say,  AVhy  art  thou  cast  down, 
O  my  soul?  and  why  art  thou  disquieted 
within  me^  Hope  thou  in  God;  for  I  shall 
yet  praise  him,  who  is  the  health  of  my  coun- 
tenance, and  my  God! 


144  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 


CHAPTEIl   III. 


T  E  M  P  T  A  T  I  0  X  S  . 


This  is  the  very  painting  of  your  fears.  —  Shakspeaee. 

Me  oft  hatli  fancy — 
Myself  creating  what  I  saw. — Cowper. 

The  apostle  James  reproves  those  who  are  too 
ready  to  connect  their  enticements  to  evil  with 
supernatural  causes;  who  ascribe  to  circum- 
stances around  them,  an  influence  which  pro- 
ceeds from  a  susceptibility  within  them.  Let 
no  man  say  ichen  he  is  tempted^  I  am  tempted 
of  God,  for  God  cannot  be  tempted  of  evil, 
neither  tempteth  he  any  man.  But  every  man 
is  tempted  when  he  is  drawn  away  by  his  own 
lusts  and  enticed.  The  danger  of  walking 
among  sparks  belongs  only  to  those  who  wear 
combustible  garments.  Nothing  is  more  com- 
mon among  the  desponding  and  morbid  tlian 
a  proneness  to   this  very  mistake.     They  im- 


ON   RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  145 

putc  their  unhappy  experiences  to  a  cause 
which  very  often  is  only  "the  painting  of  their 
fears."  IIow  far  the  prince  of  tempters  may 
take  occasion,  from  their  sickly  physical  state, 
to  lead  them  into  errors  concerning  their  spi- 
ntual,  we  presume  not  to  say.  There  is,  how- 
ever, the  same  intervention  of  second  causes 
in  their  case,  as  in  that  which  James  speaks 
of.  They  are  drawn  away  by  their  own  bodily 
affections,  and  enticed  into  grave  mistakes, 
which  cause  their  many  doubts  and  disquiet 
about  their  spiritual  safety.  It  is  a  tempta- 
tion of  some,  in  their  desponding  state,  to 
think  that  they  have  committed 

The  Sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost. 

"We  have  known  Christians,  with  eminent 
gifts,  and  piety  which  nobody  doubted  but 
themselves,  who  have  been  at  times  exceed- 
ingly distressed  with  the  apprehension  that 
they  were  guilty  of  this  unpardonable  sin. 
The  perplexing  question  concerning  its  nature, 
than  which,  Father  Austin  said,  "there  was  no 
harder  in  all  the  Scriptures,"  is  clearly  an- 
swered, as  they  suppose,  in  their  own  forlorn 
13 


146  INFLUENCE    OP    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

experience.  Among  the  schoolmen  of  the  mid- 
dle ages  there  were  no  less  than  six  different 
opinions  about  this  fearful  sin,  all  of  which, 
in  later  times,  have  been  rejected  as  erroneous. 
Calvin  defined  it  a  malicious  resistance  to 
divine  truth,  only  for  the  sake  of  resistance. 
In  this  view  Arminius  concurred  with  Calvin, 
although  opposed  to  him  in  so  many  others 
of  more  importance.  Since  the  Reformation,  a 
more  common  opinion  has  been,  that  it  was 
the  sin  of  the  Jews  when  they  ascribed  the 
miracles  of  Christ  to  the  agency  of  Satan. 
Dr.  Chalmers  and  others,  think  it  to  be,  not 
so  much  any  one  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost, 
as  a  prolonged  sinning — a  resisting  and  griev- 
ing the  heavenly  Comforter  until  he  ceases  to 
strive,  and  withdraws ;  when  the  forsaken  heart 
is  left  like  a  field  on  which  the  clouds  shed 
no  more  rain.  The  good  seed  of  the  word 
will  not  take  root  and  bring  forth  fruit  in  the 
former  case,  any  more  than  hare  grain,  ivheat, 
or  some  other  will  germinate,  so  long  as  the 
earth  is  powder  and  dust  in  the  absence  of 
proper  moisture.     Conviction  of  sin,  regenera- 


ON    RELIGIOUS    EXPERIENCE.  147 

tion,  sanctification,  arc  no  longer  possible,  be- 
cause the  dishonoured  Spirit,  so  often  repelled, 
has  let  these  impenitent  persons  alone.  Sin- 
ning now  has  become  unpardonable,  as  it  can 
no  longer  be  repented  of,  and  not  because  it 
is,  in  its  owA  nature,  worse  than  it  was  before 
the  Spirit's  final  exit.  It  docs  not  come  with- 
in the  scope  of  the  present  volume  to  write  a 
treatise  on  this  grave  subject;  but  it  is  intro- 
duced to  the  reader's  notice  only  so  far  as  to 
exhibit  the  moral  effect  of  a  physical  cause. 
The  gloomy  prognosis  in  cases  like  these,  is  a 
token,  not  as  the  sufferers  suppose,  that  they 
are  unconverted,  but  that  they  are  unwell. 
Mr.  Kemper  says,  that  in  ninety-nine  instances 
out  of  a  hundred  it  is  a  symptom  of  bodily 
disease,  "of  which  state  Satan  takes  advantage 
to  annoy  and  distress  them.  This  appears," 
he  adds,  "for  two  reasons — first,  that  so  many 
recover,  become  comfortable,  and  cease  to 
charge  themselves  with  the  commission  of  that 
most  frightful  of  all  sins:  the  second  is,  that 
others  know  their  characters  to  be  better  than 


148  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

they  say  they  are,  and  from  the  unreasonable 
charges  which  they  bring  against  themselves, 
which  others,  in  their  sober  senses,  can  see 
were  impossible."  We  once  knew  a  young 
man,  who  had  lived  twelve  years  under  the 
impression  that  he  had  survived  his  day  of 
grace.  He  supposed  that  he  could  refer  to 
the  very  day,  and  mention  the  act,  by  which 
he  caused  the  Holy  Spirit  to  withdraw,  and 
leave  him  in  a  condition  of  hopeless  obduracy. 
In  all  this  time  he  had  shown  a  becoming 
respect  to  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  but 
without  any  benefit  of  which  he  was  conscious, 
or  that  was  visible  to  others.  No  one  sus- 
pected what  was  the  state  of  his  mind — not 
his  pastor,  nor  most  intimate  friends;  for  in 
all  his  conversation  he  had  carefully  concealed 
it  from  both.  But  the  Spirit  that  he  had 
exiled  for  ever,  as  he  imagined,  was  striving 
wdth  him  still,  and  at  length  constrained  him 
to  reveal  this  oppressive  secret  to  his  pastor. 
He  was  then  told  tliat  the  very  distress  of 
mind  which  had  caused  him  to  seek  that  inter- 


o\  i{i:i,i(!i<)us  ExrERiENrK.  140 

view,  was  at  once  the  token  and  effect  of  tlu? 
Holy  Spirit's  presence.  The  remark  was  sup- 
ported by  citation  from  the  Scriptures,  and 
followed  by  prayer.  His  mind  was  at  once 
relieved,  when  liis  joy  was  now  great  in  pro- 
portion to  his  former  deep  and  long-continued 
sorrow.  Dr.  Ridglcy  says,  that  "  such  as  are 
guilty  of  this  sin  have  no  conviction  in  their 
conscience  of  any  crime  committed  herein;  but 
stop  their  ears  against  all  reproof,  and  often 
set  themselves,  with  the  greatest  hatred  and 
malice  against  those  who,  with  faithfulness, 
admonish  them  to  the  contrary.  That  they  go 
out  of  the  way  of  God's  ordinances,  and  wil- 
lingly exclude  themselves  from  the  means  of 
grace,  which  tlicy  treat  with  the  utmost  con- 
tempt, and  use  all  means  in  their  power  that 
others  may  be  deprived  of  them."  A  conscious- 
ness of  sin  then,  according  to  Dr.  Ridgley, 
a  solicitude  and  sorrow  produced  by  a  person's 
fears  of  having  sinned  beyond  pardon,  are  evi- 
dence that  his  case  is  not  so  desperate  as  he 
supposes.  His  "pain  to  find  he  cannot  feel" 
13* 


150  INFLUENCE   OF    HEALTH    AND   DISEASE 

is  a  symptom  of  vitality.  It  proves  that  he 
has  not  passed  into  the  callous  state  of  those 
whom  the  apostle  Paul  describes  as  past  feel- 
ing. Some  time  before  the  Rev.  Daniel  Baker 
made  a  profession  .of  religion,  he  was  in  great 
spiritual  darkness,  and  on  the  borders  of  des- 
pair from  the  fear  that  he  had  sinned  away 
his  day  of  grace.  "The  unpardonable  sin! — 
the  unpardonable  sin! — I  was  very  much  afraid 
that  I  had  committed  it ;  but  one  day,  reading 
a  book  called  '  Russel's  Seven  Sermons,'  I  met 
with  a  sentence  in  the  last  sermon  which  gave 
me  great  comfort.  It  was  to  this  effect — that 
if  a  man  has  any  serious  concern  about  the 
salvation  of  his  soul,  and  has  a  tender  thought 
in  relation  to  his  Redeemer,  that  w^as  proof 
positive  that  he  had  not  committed  the  unpar- 
donable sin.  Immediately  my  burden  was 
gone;  every  cloud  was  scattered,  and  my  feel- 
ings became  most  delightful.  It  was  like  the 
beauty  of  spring  after  a  long  and  dreary  win- 
ter. I  had  new  views  of  my  Saviour;  felt  that 
I  could  rest   upon  liim;    and  was  enabled  to 


ON    KKLKilOUS    EXl'r.RIENCE.  151 

rejoice  with  Joj/  unspcakahJc  and  fall  of  (jiorijr 
Another  common  temptation  is  to  the 

Adoption   of  a  false   standard  of   dutv, 
or  of  ambiguous  evidences  of  a  regenerate 

STATE. 

Like  the  Jews  who  could  not  discern  the 
signs  of  the  times  which  were  so  visible  in 
the  moral  firmament,  and  so  intelligible  to 
many,  they  asked  for  others  that  the  Saviour 
would  not  give,  and  which  they  had  no 
divine  warrant  to  expect.  Thus,  how  many 
have  lost  their  spiritual  peace  by  the  sudden 
occurrence  of  an  "  alarming  passage  of  Scrip- 
ture," as  if  it  were  a  supernatural  warning. 
They  forget  that  a  bad  spirit  can  suggest  a 
text  as  well  as  the  Good,  and  that  its  mean- 
ing is  liable  to  be  perverted  in  order  that 
it  may  suit  the  morbid  state  of  their  mind 
when  it  is  presented,  just  as  water  takes  the 
colour  of  the  soil  over  which  it  runs.  It  is 
mentioned  in  the  life  of  Mr.  Lackington,  the 
celebrated  bookseller,  that  when  quite  a  youth, 
he  was  at  one  time  locked  up  to  prevent  his 
attending    a    Methodist    meeting    in    Taunton. 


152  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

Under  a  strong  mental  impression  that  he 
ought  to  go,  he  opened  his  Bible  for  direction, 
when  his  eye  caught  the  passage:  He  shall 
give  his  angels  charge  concerning  ihee,  and  in 
their  hand  they  shall  hear  thee  up,  lest  thou  dash 
thy  foot  against  a  stone.  This,  Mr.  Lacking- 
ton  says,  "was  quite  enough  for  me;  so,  with- 
out a  moment's  hesitation,  I  ran  up  two  pair 
of  stairs  to  my  own  room,  and  out  of  the 
windoAV  I  leaped,  to  the  great  terror  of  my 
poor  mistress,  who  had  charge  of  me."  He 
was,  of  course,  severely  bruised,  and  confined 
to  his  bed  fourteen  days.  Doubtless  young 
Lackington  was  sincere,  and  was  not  aware 
of  his  adopting  the  very  sense  of  the  passage 
imposed  on  it  by  Satan,  and  which,  in  his  ex- 
cited state,  he  was  so  predisposed  to  receive. 
The  great  moral  lesson  which  this  experience 
taught  him  was  never  forgotten.  Nor  was  it 
bought  dearly,  even  at  the  expense  of  so  much 
bodily  peril.  It  is  a  striking  exemplification 
of  the  folly  of  all  who  are,  like  him,  enticed 
to  bite  the  Tempter's  hook  when  baited  by  a 
text  of  thf^   Bible.     Persons  sometimes  think 


ON    KKLKilOUS    EXPERIENCE.  153 

tlicmselvcs  to  be  following  a  light  from  heaven, 
when  they  are  led  by  a  vain  imagination  and 
a  deceiving  heart.  Others,  again,  trust  to  the 
evidence  of  "dreams,"  and  are  at  one  time 
alarmed,  and  at. another  comforted,  by  thoughts 
from  the  visions  of  the  night,  which  they  seem 
to  believe  are  prompted  by  the  same  Spirit 
that  addressed  Eliphaz  the  Temanite:  as  if 
physiology  had  not  made  it  too  clear  to  be 
any  longer  doubted,  that  the  character  of  our 
dreams  depends  very  much  upon  our  physical 
condition  as  affected  by  the  amount  or  quality 
of  our  food  last  taken,  and  the  state  of  our 
stomach.  One  man  retiring  to  bed  after  a 
light  meal,  will  dream  of  Paradise;  while  the 
digestive  organs  of  another,  gorged  and  op- 
pressed by  the  excesses  of  the  evening,  will 
make  him  dream  of  perdition.  Baron  Trcnck 
relates,  that  being  almost  dead  with  hunger 
when  confined  in  his  dungeon,  his  dreams 
every  night  presented  to  him  the  well  filled 
and  luxurious  tables  of  Berlin,  from  w^hich,  as 
they  were  spread  before  him,  he  imagined  he 
was  about  to  relic?ve  his  hunger.     Not  a  small 


;5'-'  154  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

proportion  of  our  dreams  at  night  are  the  pro- 
longed waking  thoughts  of  the  day,  and  come, 
according  to  Solomon,  through  the  multitude  of 
business.     Condorcet  told  some  one,  that  while 
he  was  engaged  in  abstruse  and  profound  cal- 
culations, he  was  frequently  obliged  to  leave 
them  in  an  imfinished  state  in  order  to  retire 
to  rest,  and  that  the  remaining  steps,  and  the 
conclusion   of  his   calculation,  had  more  than 
once  presented  themselves  in  his  dreams.     Mr. 
Coleridge  says,  that  after   reading  an  account 
of  the  Khan  Kubla,  he  fell  into  a  sleep,  and 
in  that  situation  composed  an  entire  poem  of 
not  less  than  two  hundred  lines,  some  of  which 
he  afterwards  committed  to  writing.    President 
Edwards  so  fully  believed,  that  our  dreams  are 
generally  fashioned  from  the  materials  of  the 
thoughts    and   feelings    that    we   have    while 
awake,  that  he  used  to  take  particular  notice 
of  his  dreams,  in  order  to  ascertain  from  them 
what  his  predominant  inclinations  were.     Such 
being  the  connection   between  the   operations 
of  our  mind  in  sleep  and  our  sensations  and 
conceptions  when  awake,  we  see  the  error  of 


ON    RELKilOUS   EXPERIENCE.  155 

those  wlio  arc  so  ready  to  ascribe  their  dreams 
to  a  supernatural  influence,  and  receive  them 
as  revealing  the  will  of  God.  "We  once  knew 
a  lady,  in  advanced  age,  that  gave  little  evi- 
dence of  piety,  who  had  cherished  for  many 
years  an  unwavering  assurance  of  her  salva- 
tion, which  was  based  upon  nothing  but  a 
dream.  That  God  no  longer  informs  men  of 
his  mind  through  supernatural  dreams,  as  he 
did  in  patriarchal  times,  we  do  not  assert. 
"We  presume  to  fix  no  limit  to  this  method  of 
divine  communication — to  say  when  it  ceased; 
or  that  old  men  do  not  dream  dreams,  and  youny 
men  see  visions  still.  The  apparent  connection 
that  is  sometimes  seen  between  men's  dreams 
and  the  subsequent  events  which  they  seem  to 
foresee  and  predict,  is -too  striking  and  exact 
to  be  accidental  or  fortuitous,  or  to  be  ex- 
plained "on  simple  and  natural  principles." 
A  dream  of  this  sort  is  mentioned  in  the 
memoir  of  a  distinguished  clergyman  of  Eng- 
land, to  whom  the  facts  were  well  known.  A 
young  lady,  whose  mind  had  become  awakened 
to  consider  the  subject  of  religion  with  special 


15G  INFLUENCE   OF    HEALTH    AND   DISEASE 

interest,  dreamed  of  being  in  a  place  of  wor- 
ship, where  she  heard  a  sermon,  but  when  she 
awoke,  could  remember  nothing  but  the  per- 
sonal appearance  of  the  preacher,  and  his  text. 
The  impression  on  her  mind,  however,  was 
very  deep,  and  she  resolved  on  the  next  Lord's 
day  morning  to  "find  the  place  that  she 
dreamed  of,  if  she  should  go  from  one  end  of 
London  to  the  other."  About  one  o'clock  she 
found  herself  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  where 
she  dined,  and  afterwards  set  out  again  in 
search  of  this  place  of  worship.  About  half- 
after-two  o'clock  she  saw  a  great  number  of 
people  going  down  the  Old  Jewry,  and  deter- 
mining to  see  where  they  went,  she  was  led 
by  them  to  the  meeting-house  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Shower.  She  had  no  sooner  entered  the  door, 
than,  turning  to  a  companion,  she  said  with  some 
surprise,  "This  is  the  very  place  I  saw  in  my 
dream."  It  was  not  long  before  Mr.  Shower 
entered  the  pulpit,  when,  with  greater  surprise, 
she  observed,  "This  is  the  very  man  I  saw  in 
my  dream;  and  if  every  part  of  it  holds  true, 
he  will  take  for  his  text  the  7th  verse  of  the 


«iN    nELKllorS    KXl'KRTENCE.  157 

llGth  Psalm:  Rrturn  unto  thf  rest,  O  imi  soul, 
for  the  Lord  hath  dealt  hountifaUij  icith  thee. 
When  lie  arose  to  pray,  every  petition  ex- 
pressed the  desire  of  her  heart.  Then  followed 
the  sermon,  which,  to  her  joyons  amazement, 
was  on  the  very  passage  which  had  been  im- 
pressed on  her  mind  in  the  dream.  The  resnlt 
was  her  saving  conversion,  and  her  finding 
that  rest  for  her  soul  which  she  had  so  long 
sought  elsewhere  in  vain.  Not  less  remark- 
able w'as  the  case  mentioned  by  Dr.  Aber- 
crombie,  of  a  most  respectable  clergyman  in  a 
country  parish  of  Scotland,  who  made  a  collec- 
tion in  his  church  for  an  object  of  public 
benevolence,  in  which  he  felt  deeply  interest- 
ed. The  amount  of  the  collection,  which  was 
received  in  ladles  carried  through  the  church, 
fell  greatly  short  of  his  expectation;  and  dur- 
ing the  evening  of  the  day  he  frequently 
alluded  to  the  fact  with  expressions  of  much 
disappointment.  In  the  following  night  he 
dreamed  that  three  one-pound  notes  had  been 
left  in  one  of  the  ladles,  having  been  so  com- 
pressed that  they  had  stuck  in  the  corner 
14 


"%' 


158  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

when  the  ladle  was  emptied.  He  was  so  im- 
pressed with  the  vision,  that  at  an  early  hour 
in  the  morning  he  went  to  the  church,  found 
the  ladle  that  he  had  seen  in  his  dream,  and 
drew  from  one  of  the  corners  of  it,  the  three 
one-pound  notes.  The  same  writer  gives  an 
account  of  another  clergyman,  who  had  gone 
to  Edinburgh  from  a  short  distance  in  the 
country,  and  was  sleeping  at  an  inn,  when  he 
dreamed  of  seeing  a  fire,  and  one  of  his  child- 
ren in  the  midst  of  it.  He  awoke  with  the 
impression,  and  instantly  left  town  on  his 
return  home.  When  he  arrived  within  sight 
of  his  house,  he  found  it  on  fire,  and  got  there 
in  time  to  assist  in  saving  one  of  his  children, 
who,  in  the  alarm  and  confusion,  had  been 
left  in  a  state  of  danger.  The  authority  on 
which  we  have  the  story  forbids  us  to  doubt 
its  authenticity.  But  while  there  is  now  and 
then  a  case  like  these,  which  no  philosophy 
of  the  mental  powers  can  fully  explain,  yet  the 
wild,  grotesque,  incoherent,  and  non-natural 
character  of  most,  prove  them 

To  be  the  children  of  an  idle  brain, 
Begot  of  nothing  but  vain  fantasy. 


ON   RELIGIOUS   EXRERIENCE.  159 

As  the  bard  of  Avon  expounds  the  theory, 
under  the  whimsical  fiction  of  Queen  Mab  sal- 
lying forth  by  night  in  her  hazle-nut  chariot, 
on  her  dream-inspiring  missions — 

When  in  this  state,  she  gallops  night  by  night 
Through  lovers'  brains,  and  then  they  dream  of  love ; 
On  courtiers'  knees,  that  dream  on  court'sies  straight; 
O'er  lawyers'  fingers,  who  straight  dream  on  fees  ; 
O'er  ladies'  lips,  who  straight  on  kisses  dream: 
Sometimes  she  gallops  o'er  a  courtier's  nose, 
And  then  dreams  he  of  smelling  out  a  suit; 
And  sometimes  comes  she  with  a  tithe-pig's  tail. 
Tickling  a  parson's  nose  as  'a  lies  asleep. 
Then  dreams  he  of  another  benefice: 
Sometimes  she  driveth  o'er  a  soldier's  neck, 
And  then  he  dreams  of  cutting  foreign  throats, 
Of  breaches,  ambuscadoes,  Spanish  blades. 
Of  healths  five  fathom  deep;  and  then  anon 
Drums  in  his  ear;  at  which  he  starts,  and  wakes; 
And,  being  thus  frighted,  swears  a  prayer  or  two, 
And  sleeps  again. 

Many  Christians,  of  a  nervous  temperament, 
are  tempted  to  make  too  much  of 

Religious  frames. 

They  will  imagine  themselves,  perhaps,  to 
be  in.  a  state  of  favour  with  God,  or  to  be 
unreconciled,  according   to  their   present   im- 


160  INFLUENCE    OF    nEALTII   AND    DISEASE 

pression  or  mental  enjoyment,  Mr.  Brownlow 
North,  in  one  of  his  public  addresses  in  Ire- 
land, mentioned  the  case  of  a  female  in  Bel- 
fast, who  said  that  she  knew  that  Christ  had 
pardoned  her  sins,  because  she  was  so  happy ; 
but  if  her  feeling  of  happiness  were  taken 
away,  she  would  not  think  her  sins  to  have 
been  forgiven.  "  Many  imagine,  unless  they 
are  at  all  times  in  a  glow  of  fervour,  an 
ecstatic  frame  of  feeling,  all  must  be  wrong 
with  them.  But  there  is  nothing  more  dan- 
gerous or  deceptive  than  a  life  of  mere  feel- 
ing; and  its  most  dangerous  phase  is  a  life  of 
religious  emotional  excitement.  It  is  in  the 
last  degree  erroneous  to  consider  all  this  glow- 
ing ecstacy  of  frame  a  necessary  condition  of 
healthful  spiritual  life.  You  will  not  be  asked, 
in  the  last  great  day,  whether  you  had  great 
enjoyment,  or  much  enlargement  of  soul  here. 
Speak  to  that  vast  multitude  which  no  man 
can  number,  now  around  the  throne.  Ask 
them  whether  they  came  through  much  con- 
solati  OH  mid  joy  in  the  Lord.  No!  tlirough 
much   tribulation.     Ask   them   whether    they 


ON   RELIGIOUS   EXrERIENCE.  IGl 

were  saved  by  their  warmth  of  love  to  their 
Saviour.  No !  but  they  had  washed  their 
robes,  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb."  Many  persons,  Mr.  North  says, 
derive  their  faith  from  their  feelings,  whereas 
they  ought  to  do  the  exact  reverse,  and  let 
their  feelings  flow  from  their  faith. 

The  power  of  temptation  in  the  form  we 
now  speak  of,  was  exemplified,  to  a  remark- 
able extent,  in  the  case  of  Mrs.  Hawkes,  that 
devoted  friend  of  Mr.  Cecil,  of  London,  and 
an  honoured  servant  of  Christ.  Her  copious 
diary  is  full  of  meditations  which  exhibit  her 
spiritual  vacillancy,  and  show  that  this  was 
her  infirmity.  Thus,  after  one  of  her  transi- 
tions from  spiritual  gloom  to  light  and  hope, 
she  exclaims:  "How  variable  are  our  frames 
and  feelings!  How  like  the  shining  and  the 
shadow  passing  over  the  green  plain!  But, 
blessed  be  God,  our  salvation  consisteth  not  in 
frames  and  feelings,  but  in  being  engrafted  on 
the  living  Vine,  and  abiding  in  Christ;  con- 
sisteth not  even  in  our  sensible  hold  on  him, 
14* 


162  INFLUENCE   OF    HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

but  in  our  simple  belief  of  his  gracious  decla- 
ration that  he  will  never  leave,  nor  forsake, 
nor  suffer  us  to  be  plucked  out  of  his  hand." 
In  reference  to  such  cases  as  hers,  Mr.  New- 
ton remarks,  ^'  that  a  humble,  dependent  frame 
of  spirit,  perseverance  in  the  appointed  means, 
care  to  avoid  all  occasions  of  sin,  a  sincere 
endeavour  to  glorify  God,  an  eye  to  Jesus 
Christ  as  our  all  in  all,  arc  sure  indications 
that  the  soul  'is  thriving,'  whether  sensible 
consolation  abound  or  not.  Neither  high  nor 
low  frames  will  do  for  a  standard  of  faith;  self 
may  be  strong  in  both."  Persons  who  are 
conscious  of  such  spiritual  oscillations,  should 
learn  to  discriminate  between  their  emotions  or 
frames  and  their  habitual  principles  of  action. 
The  former  may  be  likened  to  the  little  eddies 
near  the  margin  of  a  river,  which,  at  different 
times,  flow  towards  all  points  of  the  compass. 
The  latter  are  the  current,  constantly  tending 
the  same  way,  and  which  makes  it  evident  in 
what  direction  the  great  volume  of  water  is 
running.  In  one  of  his  affectionate  letters  to 
Mrs.    Hawkes   that    relates    to    the    religious 


ON   RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  103 

depression  which  she  often  suffered,  he  com- 
pares an  afflicted  believer  to  "a  man  that  has 
an  orchard  laden  with  fruit,  who,  because  the 
wind  has  blown  off  the  leaves,  sits  down  and 
weeps.  If  one  asks,  'What  do  you  weep  forT 
'Why,  my  apple-leaves  are  gone!'  'But,  have 
you  not  your  apples  left"?'  'Yes.'  'Very 
well,  then,  do  not  grieve  for  a  few  leaves, 
which  could  only  hinder  the  ripening  of  your 
fruit.'  Pardon  and  promises,  that  cannot  fail, 
lie  at  the  root  of  j^our  profession,  my  dear 
daughter;  and  fruits  of  faith,  hope,  and  love, 
that  no  one  can  question,  have  long  covered 
your  branches.  The  east  wind  sometimes  car- 
ries off  a  few  leaves,  though  the  roifgh  wind 
is  stayed.  And  what  if  every  leaf  were  gone? 
What  if  not  a  single  earthly  comfort  were 
left?  Christ  has  prayed  and  promised  that 
your  fruit  shall  remain;  and  it  shall  be  my 
joy  to  behold  it  in  all  eternity."  Not  less 
injurious  to  the  spiritual  progress  of  others, 
is  a 

Habit  of  mental  introspection. 

We  mean,  not  the  salutary  practice  of  self- 


104  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

examination,  which  is  commended  alike  by 
apostolic  injunction  and  Christian  experience. 
But  we  speak  of  a  continual  peering  inward 
on  their  thoughts,  emotions,  affections,  convic- 
tions of  sin,  and  various  exercises  of  mind, 
instead  of  looking  away  from  them  all  to 
Christ.  It  is  the  natural  proneness  of  a 
doubting  and  fearful  mind,  which  it  is  often 
hard  to  resist.  But,  like  Mary's  visit  to  the 
sepulchre  after  the  resurrection,  it  is  a  seek- 
ing of  the  living  among  the  dead.  Some 
persons,  in  their  desponding  moods,  Mr.  Spen- 
cer says,  "  think  only  of  themselves  and  their 
sins.  Nothing  can  magnify  equal  to  melan- 
choly— and  nothing  is  so  monotonous.  A  me- 
lancholy man,  left  to  himself  and  the  sway  of 
his  melancholy,  will  not  have  a  new  idea  once 
a  month.  His  thoughts  will  move  round  and 
round  in  the  same  dark  circle.  This  will  do 
him  no  good;  he  ought  to  get  out  of  it.  De- 
pression never  benefits  body  or  soul.  We  are 
saved  hy  hopc.''^  But  next  in  danger  to  this 
mistake  of  looking  to  themselves  for  help  and 
light,  is  their  "  making  a  test  of  the  experience 


ON   RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  1G5 

of  others  for  the  trial  of  our  own."     In  a  letter 
to  Mr.  Anderson,  Dr.  Chalmers  speaks  of  the 
besetting   anxiety  that   attends   such   a   prac- 
tice, concerning  which  he  makes  the  following 
excellent  suggestions,  as  the  promptings  of  his 
own   observation   and   consciousness:    "When 
you  read  books   upon  the  subject  of  conver- 
sion, you  sec  a  certain  process  assigned,  and 
in  such  a  confident  and  authoritative  way  too, 
that  you  are  apt  to  conceive  that  this  is  the 
very  process,  and  that  there  can  be  no  other. 
I  compare  it  with  my  own   history,   and  my 
own  resolutions,  and  I  am  apt  to  be  alarmed 
at  the  want  of  correspondence  in  a  good  many 
particulars.      Scott's   'Force   of  Truth'    is   an 
example;   Doddridge's  'Rise    and   Progress  of 
Religion  in  the  Soul'  another;  and  last,  though 
not   least,   the    'Pilgrim's   Progress.'     I   pro- 
nounce  them    all   to   be    excellent,   and   that 
there  are  many  exemplifications  such  as  they 
describe.     But  the  process  is  not  authoritative, 
nor  is  it  universal.     The  Spirit  taketh  its  own 
way  with  each   individual,  and  you  know  it 
only  by  its  fruits.     I  cannot  say  of  myself  that 


166  INFLUENCE   OF    HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

I  ever  felt  a  state  of  mind  corresponding  to 
John  Bimyan's  Slough  of  Despond.  Indeed, 
I  blame  myself  most  sincerely,  that  I  cannot 
excite  in  my  heart  a  high  enough  conception 
of  sin  in  all  its  maHgnity.  I  hope  I  have  the 
conviction,  but  I  cannot  command  the  degree 
of  emotion  that  I  should  like;  and  in  the 
hardness  of  a  heart,  not  so  tenderly  alive,  as 
it  ought  to  be,  to  the  authority  of  my  Law- 
giver, and  the  enormity  of  trampling  upon 
him,  I  feel  how  far,  and  very  far  I  am  at  this 
moment  from  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the 
lierfect  man  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  Now, 
what  am  I  to  infer  from  this? — that  I  have 
not  yet  surmounted  the  impassable  barrier 
which  stands  between  me  and  the  gate  of  life'? 
So  one  would  suppose  from  John  Bunyan,  and 
so  I  would  suppose  myself,  were  it  not  for  the 
kind  assurance  of  my  Saviour,  whose  every 
testimony  is  truth,  and  every  tone  is  tender- 
ness: He  that  helieveth  in  me,  though  he  were 
dead,  yet  shall  he  live.  This  is  my  firm  hold, 
and  I  will  not  let  it  go.  I  sicken  at  all  my 
own  imperfect  preparations.     I  take  one  deci 


ON   RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  1G7 

sive  and  immediate  step,  and  resign  my  all  to 
the  sufficiency  of  my  Saviour."  Many  Chris- 
tians, of  unequal  experience,  are  wont  to 

Make  an  idol  of  comfort. 

This  temptation  is  akin  to  that  already  men- 
tioned, which  rests  the  believer's  hope  on  the 
unstable  basis  of  frames.  But  it  implies  an 
erroneous  view  of  the  Scriptures,  and  a  mis- 
take of  the  only  source  from  which  solid  and 
enduring  comfort  can  ever  emanate.  In  his 
life,  written  by  Clarke,  Dr.  Harris  is  quoted 
as  exposing,  with  much  discrimination,  this 
amons:  other  mistakes  of  disturbed  minds  that 
are  seeking  relief.  "What  an  idol,"  he  says, 
"do  some  make  of  comfort,  as  if  it  were  their 
Christ  ]"  It  absorbs  their  thoughts,  and  they 
seem  to  care  for  nothing  but  this.  And  when 
their  comfort  comes,  they  are  apt  to  lose  it — 
some  by  nourishing  too  great  scrupulosity,  and 
others  by  contracting  carelessness  and  hardness 
of  heart.  But  if  we  miss  or  lose  our  comforts 
for  other  causes  than  our  own  remarkable  de- 
fault and  disobedience,  we  must  acquiesce  in 
the  pleasure  of  God  till  the  blessed  day  dawns. 


168  INFLUENCE    OF   HEALTH    AND   DLSEASE 

But  why  look  so  intently  after  this,  when,  if 
we  study  and  understand  the  covenant  of  grace, 
and  are  but  sincere,  it  will  give  us  quietness 
under  our  manifold  infirmities  and  trials,  even 
though  comforts  flow  not  in  upon  us"?  But 
another  error  of  these  seekers  after  comfort  is 
to  mistake  its  abatement  for  an  absolute  re- 
moval. In  some  cases,  perhaps,  their  fears 
may  be  just;  and  yet  many  are  ready  to  mis- 
trust the  least  declension  of  it  for  its  loss. 
They  ought  to  understand  that  comfort  long 
enjoyed  does  not  make  the  impression  it  did 
at  first — especially  if  they  came  out  of  great 
darkness;  for  then  it  is  like  standing  in  the 
open  sun,  after  having  just  come  out  of  a  dun- 
geon. The  change,  at  first,  is  very  impressive; 
but  after  a  long  and  habitual  sunshine,  though 
the  heat  and  benign  influences  are  just  the 
same,  yet  use  and  time  abate  gradually  the 
transports  of  the  sensation."  Hence  the  peace 
of  such  believers,  unlike  the  steady  flow  of  a 
river,  is  as  unstable  as  the  waters  of  the 
always  changing  ocean.  Many  excellent  Chris- 
tians, in  reading  the  teachings  of  Christ,  ap- 


ON   REUaiOUS   EXPERIENCE.  109 

pear  to  make  the  same  mistake  as  did  the 
sons  of  Zebedce;  they  are  looking  for  their 
crown  without  the  antecedent  cross — for  the 
victory  of  faith,  without  the  good  fight  through 
which  Paul  gained  it,  and  everybody  else,  who 
has  gained  it  at  all.  In  their  desire  to  be 
filled  with  comfort^  which  is  one  of  the  fruits  of 
sanctification,  they  lose  sight  of  the  process  of 
trial  by  which  God  is  pleased,  in  most  cases, 
to  carry  on  and  mature  this  work  of  tlie  Spirit. 
Such  mistaken  disciples  expect  to  enjoy,  in 
the  present  life,  Mason  says,  that  unmingled 
happiness  which  God  has  promised  only  for 
the  future.  'O,  give  me  comforts,  or  I  die!' 
saith  the  soul  of  such  an  one;  'for  surely, 
were  I  a  child  of  God,  I  should  not  be  thus 
tried,  afflicted,  and  distressed.'  'Nay,'  saith 
the  Saviour,  '  ye  know  not  what  ye  ask.  Dost 
thou  forget  the  exhortation  which  speaketh  unto 
you  as  unto  children,  despise  not  thou  the  chas- 
tening of  the  Lord,  nor  faint  when  thou  art  re- 
buked of  him.  Did  I  bid  thee  believe  on  me"? 
Believe  also  my  words;  through  much  trihula- 
tion  thou  must  enter  my  kingdom.'  AVe  often 
15 


170  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

pray,  like  Peter,  to  be  excused  being  washed 
by  our  Lord;  but  we  consider  neither  his  love 
nor  our  own  advantage.  If  I  ivash  thee  not., 
thou  hast  110  part  ivith  vie.  If  ye  he  loithout 
chastisement,  then  are  ye  not  sons.  I  will  purge 
away  thy  dross  and  thy  tin,  and  purify  thee  in 
the  furnace.  Then  shall  thy  graces  shine 
brighter,  thy  faith  grow  stronger,  thy  love 
burn  more  fervent,  and  thy  obedience  be  more 
cheerful.  O  happy  to  live,  not  so  much  on 
comforts,  as  on  the  God  of  all  comforts." 
But  the  worst  of  all  forms  of  temptation,  is 
when  it  tends  to 

Despair. 

The  unhappy  condition  of  which  we  have 
treated,  assumes  many  phases,  and  is  modified 
by  circumstances  almost  numberless.  In  all 
cases  it  is  attended  with  mental  sufi'ering  more 
or  less  aggravated;  but  the  malady  sometimes 
reaches  its  dreadful  climax  in  a  state  of  des- 
pair. In  most  instances  of  this  kind,  the 
symptoms  of  bodily  disease  are  so  apparent, 
that  all  religious  counsels  may  be  deferred  as 
superfluous,  until  the  physical  state  has  been 


ON   RELiaiOUS   EXPERIENCE.  171 

cliaiiged  by  proper  medical  treatment.  Some- 
times, however,  when  there  are  no  perceptible 
indications  of  impaired  health,  the  mind  sinks 
into  a  state  of  hopelessness,  which  is  promoted 
and  nurtured  by  perverted  views  of  truth,  or 
a  misapplication  of  its  meaning.  They  are 
afraid  to  pray,  perhaps,  because  the  sacrifice  of 
the  wicked  is  abomination;  or  at  some  former 
time  they  may  have  eaten  and  drunk  damnation 
to  themselves  by  partaking  unworthily  at  the 
Lord's  table.  Not  long  ago  a  pastor  told  me 
of  an  interesting  female  member  of  his  church, 
who  had  been  despairing  of  her  salvation  many 
years,  because  of  her  having  been  guilty,  as 
she  supposed,  of  this  presumptuous  act.  Very 
often,  in  this  sickly  state,  the  mind  is  tempted 
to  ponder  the  divine  decrees,  or  the  mystery 
of  election,  or  try  to  reconcile  the  divine 
purposes  and  foreknowledge  with  human  free 
agency.  It  endeavours  to  "pry  between  the 
folded  leaves"  of  the  book  of  life,  which  is  for- 
bidden even  to  Gabriel;  to  comprehend  that 
which  is  incomprehensible,  and  to  know  that 
which  passeth  knowledcfe.     The  forlornness  and 


172  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

desperation  that  such  diseased  musings  lead  to, 
are  indescribable.  But  cases  of  this  kind  so 
closely  resemble  those  in  which  the  mind  is 
brooding  over  an  imagined  sin  against  the 
Holy  Ghost,  that  the  counsels  addressed  to  the 
former  are  not  less  adapted  to  instruct  the 
latter.  Persons  under  the  power  of  temptation 
in  this  form,  not  only  neglect  the  means  of 
grace,  but,  by  a  constant  rumination  on  their 
-vvretchedness,  only  make  it  the  more  difficult 
to  dislodge  the  delusion,  and  minister  effectual 
relief.  But  "despair  never  made  a  human 
being  better;  it  has  made  many  a  devil  worse." 
Mr.  Spencer  says,  that  at  one  time  there  was 
in  his  congregation  a  woman  about  forty  years 
of  age,  who  was  a  wonder  to  me.  She  was 
one  of  the  most  intelligent  and  well  educated 
of  the  people;  she  had  been  brought  up  from 
her  childhood  in  the  family  of  a  clergyman,  as 
his  daughter;  was  very  attentive  to  the  obser- 
vance of  the  Sabbath;  and  was  never  absent 
from  her  seat  in  the  church.  As  the  mother 
of  a  family  she  had  few  equals.  Everybody 
respected  her.     But  she  was  not  a  member  of 


ON    RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  173 

the  cliurcli;  and  whenever  I  had  endeavoured 
to  Ccdl  attention  to  the  subject,  she  was  so 
reserved,  that  I  could  not  even  conjecture  what 
was  her  particular  state  of  mind.  I  was  told 
that  she  never  spoke  to  any  one  in  respect  to 
her  religious  feelings.  One  day  I  called  upon 
her,  and  frankly  told  her  my  embarrassment 
about  her.  I  mentioned  her  uniform  taci- 
turnity; my  motive  in  aiming  to  overcome  it; 
my  supposition  that  some  error  kept  her  from 
religion,  and  my  inability  to  conjecture  what 
it  was.  I  said  to  her  that  I  had  not  a  doubt 
there  was  something  locked  up  in  her  own 
mind  wliich  she  never  whispered  to  me.  She 
seemed  very  much  surprised  at  this  declaration, 
and  I  instantly  asked  her  if  it  was  not  sol 
With  some  reluctance  she  confessed  it  was. 
And  then,  after  no  little  urgency,  she  said  she 
would  tell  me  the  whole — not  on  her  own  ac- 
count— but  that  her  case  might  not  discourage 
me  from  aiming  to  lead  others  to  Christ.  She 
then  said  that  her  day  of  grace  was  past;  that 
she  had  had  every  possible  opportunity  for  sal- 
vation; that  every  possible  motive  had  been  a 
15* 


174  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

thousand  times  presented  to  her;  that  she  had 
been  the  subject  of  deep  convictions  and 
anxiety  often ;  she  had  Hved  through  three  re- 
markable revivals  of  religion,  in  which  many 
of  her  companions  had  been  led  to  Christ :  and 
that  she  had  again  and  again  attempted  to 
work  out  her  salvation,  but  all  in  vain.  "  I 
know  my  day  is  gone,"  she  said,  "and  I  am 
given  over."  She  spoke  this  in  a  decided 
manner,  solemnly  and  coldly,  unmoved  as  a 
rock.  As  I  was  silently  thinking  for  a  mo- 
ment how  I  could  best  remove  her  error,  she 
went  on  to  say  that  she  had  never  before  now 
mentioned  this;  that  she  fully  believed  in  the 
reality  of  experimental  religion,  and  assented 
to  everything  she  had  ever  heard  me  preach, 
except  when  once  or  twice  I  had  spoken  of 
religious  despair.  But  inasmuch  as  her  day  of 
grace  was  past,  she  did  not  wish  to  have  her 
mind  troubled  on  the  subject  of  religion  at  all, 
and  asked  me  to  say  nothing  more  about  it. 
I  inquired  how  long  she  had  been  in  this  state 
of  mindl  She  told  me  she  had  known  for 
eighteen  years  that  there  was  no  salvation  for 


ON    RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE,  175 

licr.  I  inquired  if  she  ever  prayed'?  She  said 
she  had  not  prayed  for  eighteen  years.  I  asked 
if  she  did  not  feel  imhappy  to  be  in  such  a 
state"?  She  said  she  seldom  thought  of  it,  as 
it  would  do  no  good ;  and  she  never  intended 
to  think  of  it  again.  I  called  to  see  her  time 
after  time  about  once  a  week  for  six  weeks; 
examined  all  her  reasons  for  thinking  that  her 
day  of  grace  had  gone  by,  except  one,  and 
convinced  her  that  they  were  false.  Evidently 
she  had  become  intellectually  interested ;  there 
was  but  one  point  left.  She  had  never,  at  any 
preceding  interview,  expressed  a  wish  to  see 
me,  or  asked  me  to  call  again.  I  now  called 
her  attention  summarily  to  the  ground  we  had 
gone  over,  and .  how  she  had  found  all  her 
refuges  of  lies  swept  away,  save  one,  as  she  her- 
self had  acknowledged;  and  if  that  were  gone, 
she  would  think  her  salvation  possible.  I  then 
asked  her  if  she  wished  to  see  me  again]  She 
replied  that  her  opinion  was  unchanged,  but 
that  she  would  like  to  hear  wliat  I  had  to  say 
about  the  remaining  point,  which,  as  she  truly 
said,  I  had  avoided  so  often.     I  called  the  next 


176  INFLUENCE   OF    HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

day,  and  took  up  the  one  point  left — this  last 
item  which  doomed  her  to  despair.  As  I  exa- 
mined it,  reasoning  with  her,  and  asking  if  she 
thought  me  right  from  step  to  step  as  I  went 
on,  the  intensity  of  her  thoughts  became  pain- 
ful to  me.  She  gazed  upon  me  with  unutter- 
able astonishment.  Her  former  cold  and  stone- 
like appearance  was  gone;  her  bosom  heaved 
with  emotion;  and  her  whole  frame  seemed 
agitated  with  a  new  kind  of  life.  To  see  the 
dreadful  fixedness  of  despair  melting  away  from 
her  countenance,  and  the  dawnings  of  inceptive 
hope  taking  its  place,  was  a  new  and  strange 
thing  to  me.  It  looked  like  putting  life  into 
a  corpse.  As  my  explanation  and  argument 
drew  towards  the  close,  she  turned  pale  as 
death.  She  almost  ceased  to  breathe;  and 
when  I  had  finished,  and  •  in  answer  to  my 
question,  she  confessed  that  she  had  no  reason 
to  believe  that  her  day  of  grace  was  past,  and 
instantly  she  looked  as  if  she  had  waked  up  in 
a  new  world.  The  tears  gushed  from  her  eyes 
in  a  torrent,  she  clasped  her  hands,  sprung 
from   her   scat,    and   walked   back    and   forth 


ON    RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  177 

across  the  room,  exclaiming,  "I  can  be  saved! — 
I  can  be  saved! — I  can  be  saved!"  She  was 
so  entirely  overcome  that  I  thought  she  would 
faint,  or  perhaps  her  reason  give  way.  I  was 
afraid  to  leave  her,  and  remained,  saying  no- 
thing, till  she  became  more  composed,  when, 
with  a  silent  bow,  I  withdrew.  The  next  Sab- 
bath moniing  she  was  at  the  meeting  for 
inquirers,  and  appeared  like  other  awakened 
sinners,  with  nothing  remarkable  about  her 
except  her  manifest  determination  to  seek  the 
Lord  with  all  her  heart.  In  about  three  weeks 
she  became  one  of  the  happiest  creatures  in 
hope,  I  ever  saw.  She  afterwards  united  with 
the  church,  and  yet  lives  a  happy  and  decided 
believer. 


178  INFLUENCE   OF    HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 


CPIAPTEIl    IV. 

COUNSELS. 

'Tis  hard,  in  such  a  strife  of  rules,  to  choose 
The  best. 

Armstronq. 

Haying  examined  the  nature  of  physical 
causes,  their  influence  upon  religious  experi- 
ence, and  the  uses  of  knowledge,  we  come  now 
to  the  most  important  department  of  our  sub- 
ject, viz. 

The  counsels  which  such  cases  of  suffer- 
ing REQUIRE. 

And  here  we  shoidd  repeat  the  remark,  that 
as  we  are  not  writing  for  medical  men,  neither 
do  we  afiect  the  medical  knowledge  which  is 
required  to  do  it  justice  in  all  its  bearings. 
The  most  which  has  been  proposed  and  at- 
tempted, is  to  offer  the  results  of  some  experi- 
ence and  observation  in  prosecuting  the  minis- 
try, rather  than  the  fruits  of  scientific  research. 
Without  much  of  the  latter,  it  has  appeared 
to  the  writer,  that   there  is    ample   scope  for 


ON   RF.LTOTOUS   EXrERTENCE,  170 

some  profitable  suggestions,  by  which  the  un- 
liappy  condition  of  many  may  be  reached  and 
relieved. 

The  more  conversant  we  become  with  the 
varied  cases  of  spiritual  disquietude,  occurrent 
in  our  churches,  the  more  occasion  we  see  for 
all  the  aid  which  may  be  furnished  by  the 
counsels  and  experience  of  others.  That  this 
should  have  been  made  no  more  frequently  the 
subject  of  discussion  by  the  pen  or  the  pulpit, 
is  to  be  ascribed,  not  to  its  intrinsic  barren- 
ness, nor  its  want  of  importance,  as  is  evident 
from  the  prominency  given  it  in  the  older 
English  writers,  but  the  demand  for  treatises 
on  subjects  like  that  of  our  present  discussion 
is  small,  and  for  the  most  part  restricted  to 
those  whose  cases  are  portrayed,  and  very  often 
to  a  smaller  number  even  than  they.  Some- 
times there  is  such  an  utter  prostration  of  all 
energy,  intellectual  and  moral,  in  the  afflicted 
themselves,  that  it  is  extremely  difficult  to 
arrest  their  attention  even  by  instructions, 
which,  if  heeded,  would  relieve  their  spirits, 
and  restore  them  to  cheerfulness. 


ISO  INFLUENCE   OF    HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

"  In  perusing  the  memoirs  of  those  who  have 
devoted  themselves  to  God,"  Dr.  Cheyne  says, 
"  nothing  has  appeared  to  us  more  remarkable 
than  their  ignorance  of,  or  inattention  to,  many 
of  those  things  which  affect  their  spiritual 
enjoyment;  and  especially  that  physical  causes 
should  be  so  continually  overlooked  by  those 
who  must  be  fully  aware  of  the  influence  which 
the  body  exercises  over  the  mind,  and  the  mind 
over  the  body,  in  all  men,  but  particularly  in 
Christians."  They  are  habitually  desponding 
and  unhappy;  not  appearing  to  know  how 
much  the  pleasurable  emotions  of  the  soul  are 
dependent  on  the  state  of  the  health. 

Non  est  vivere,  sed  valere,  vita.    \  v^  ' 

Existence  is  not  life,  but  to  be  well. 

To  those,  then,  who  are  perplexed  about 
their  spiritual  state,  and  are  often  fearful  and 
sad,  we  would  say. 

Endeavour,  so  far  as  possible,  to  ascer- 
tain THE  true  cause  OF  YOUR  DOUBTS  AND 
SPIRITUAL   TROUBLES. 

This  is  Baxter's  prescription.  "If  you 
should   mistake   in   the   cause,"   he   savs,   "it 


ON    RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  181 

would  much  frustrate  the  most  excellent  means 
for  cure.  The  very  same  doubts  and  com- 
plaints may  come  from  several  causes  in  several 
persons,  and  therefore  admit  not  of  the  same 
way  of  cure.  Sometimes  the  cause  begins  in 
the  body,  and  thence  proceedeth  to  the  mind; 
sometimes  it  begins  in  the  mind,  and  thence 
distempcreth  the  body.  Again,  it  proceedeth 
from  wordly  crosses,  or  scruples  upon  points 
of  religious  doctrine,  decays  of  inward  grace, 
or,  as  it  was  with  David,  from  the  deep  wounds 
of  some  scandalous  sin.  Which  of  these  is 
your  own  case,  you  must  be  careful  to  find 
out,  and  apply  the  means  for  cure  accordingly. 
And  if,  upon  close  and  careful  examination, 
it  prove  like  Achan's  fraud,  to  be  some  latent 
sin,  then  relief  can  only  come  (as  it  inftdlibly 
will  come,)  by  putting  it  away.  If  the  cause 
be  found  in  the  state  of  your  health,  then 
acquit  your  soul  from  all  that  part  of  your 
disquietness  which  proceeds  from  this  source; 
remembering  in  all  your  self-examinations, 
self-judgings,  and  reflections  on  your  heart, 
that  it  is  not  directly  to  be  charged  with  those 
IG 


1S2  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

sorrows  that  come  from  your  spleen,  save  only 
remotely,  as  all  other  diseases  are  the  fruits  of 
sin,  as  a  lethargic  dullness  is  tlie  deserved 
fruit  of  sin;  but  he  that  should  charge  it  im- 
mediately on  his  soul,  would  wrong  himself, 
and  he  that  would  attempt  the  cure,  must  do 
it  on  the  body." 

It  is  admitted  that  such  counsel  as  this  is 
attended  with  more  or  less  danger;  that  it 
may  encourage  presumption  in  some,  and  thus 
lead  them  to  heal  the  hurt  of  their  spirit  too 
slightly  and  hastily,  by  resolving  it  into  a 
cause  over  which  they  have  no  control,  and 
for  which  they  are  not  accountable.  How 
many  pains  which  afflict  the  soul,  especially  in 
later  life,  are  only  retributory.  They  are  the 
hitter  things  in  which  the  sufferer  is  made  to 
possess  the  iniquities  of  his  youth;  "the  physi- 
cal results  of  early  crime  in  the  disease  and 
infirmity  of  the  body;  the  mental  results,  in 
the  weakness,  disorder,  and  unsettledness  of 
the  intellect;  and  the  moral  results,  in  the 
hardness,  impenitency,  and  unbelief  of  the 
soul."      And   although    the    petulance,   impa- 


ON    KELICIOUS    EXPERIENCE.  183 

tiencc,  repining,  and  restive  spirit  which  they 
often  produce,  are  the  effect  of  a  physical  cause, 
yet  they  arc  not  blameless,  and  arc  no  more 
to  be  ascribed  to  tlic  mere  sovereignty  or  pro- 
vidence of  God,  than  is  the  delirium  tremens 
of  the  drunkard,  or  the  death  of  the  suicide. 
It  is  hoped  that  the  subject  has  been  suffi- 
ciently guarded  against  this  perversion,  by 
what  has  been  said  in  the  preceding  chapter. 
Unhappily,  however,  as  has  also  been  inti- 
mated before,  many  of  those  who  need  such 
instructions,  arc  too  dejected  and  inert  to  be 
aroused  to  make  any  serious  and  persevering 
inquiry  after  the  source  of  their  despondency. 
"To  reason  with  a  man  against  the  views 
which  arise  from  melancholy,"  Dr.  Alexander 
says,  "is  commonly  as  inefficacious  as  reasoning 
against  bodily  pain.  I  have  long  made  this  a 
criterion,  to  ascertain  whether  the  dejection 
experienced  was  owing  to  a  physical  cause ;  for 
in  that  case,  argument,  though  demonstrative, 
had  no  effect."  Very  many  are  predisposed  to 
take  it  for  granted  that  their  gloom  proceeds 
from   a  culpable   cause,   whatever  it  may  be; 


184  INFLUENCE   OF    HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

that  the  more  they  should  investigate  the  pain- 
ful subject,  the  more  they  would  discover  to 
convince  them  that  they  were  deceiving  them- 
selves, and  that  they  had  never  been  spiritually 
changed.  But  let  no  professor  of  religion  in 
his  senses  ever  be  tempted  to  dispose  of  his 
own  case  in  this  precipitate  and  summary  way. 
To  give  indulgence  to  such  a  lethargic  ease, 
while  in  doubt  about  his  salvation,  is  evidence 
of  a  sort  of  hallucination,  which,  instead  of 
impairing  his  responsibility,  greatly  increases 
both  his  danger  and  his  guilt.  Let  the  in- 
quiry into  his  own  personal  state,  then,  be 
pursued  diligently,  until  he  come  to  a  satisfac- 
tory conclusion;  let  him  persevere  under  a  per- 
suasion of  the  ineffable  importance  of  the  duty, 
as  involving  all  that  is  desirable  or  fearful  in 
the  disclosures  of  eternity.  His  despondency 
may  be  produced  by  false  views  of  religion,  or 
these  erroneous  views  may  generate  despond- 
ency. Nor  is  it  in  every  case  easy  to  deter- 
mine which  is  cause  and  which  is  effect;  the 
manner  in  which  mind  and  body  reciprocally 
act  upon  each  other  being  often  so  inscrutable 


ON    RELKUOUS    EXl'EUIKNCE.  185 

as  to  baffle  the  attcnii)t  to  distinguish  between 
physical    and    mental   causes.      "AVhere   des- 
pondency puts   on   a   religious   form,    its   real 
nature  may  be  ascertained   by  inquiring   into 
the  actual  character  and  circumstances  of  the 
sufferer.      Where    there   is   palpable   illusion, 
there  is  disease.     False  impressions  may  pro- 
ceed from  ignorance  and  misapprehension,  and 
such  impressions  will  yield  to  moral  treatment. 
But  if  tlie  notions  are  not  merely  inaccurate, 
but   illusive;    if  the   mind   is  found   to   have 
shaped    out   for   itself  the  ideal  object  of  its 
desponding    apprehension,    there    can    be    no 
ground  for  hesitation  in  pronouncing  the  de- 
pression to   be   bodily  distemper.     There   are 
morbid  states  of  mind  which   do  not   rise  to 
that  height  of  nervous  disorder  which  produces 
hallucination,  but  which  still  indicate  an  un- 
healthy state  of  body.     There  is  such  a  thing 
as  the  religious  vapours,  for  which  the  Phar- 
macopoeia prescribes  suitable   remedies.      But 
no  one  who    knows  what  melancholy  is,  will 
confound  that  terrible  visitation  with  any  self- 
16* 


186  INFLUENCE   OP    HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

inflicted  or  fantastic  complaints."     Our  second 
counsel  to  those  who  are  thus  afflicted,  is  to 
Avail   themselves   of    judicious   medical 

ADVICE. 

We  refer  in  this  direction  more  particularly 
to  those  whose  state  of  doubting  and  darkness 
has  been  long  continued.  As  in  the  case  of 
Dr.  Rush,  the  cause  may  exist  in  a  morbid 
condition  of  the  body,  without  being  even  sus- 
pected by  themselves.  To  those  whose  trouble 
proceeds  from  this  source,  Baxter  says  again, 
"expect  not  that  rational  or  spiritual  remedies 
should  suffice  for  your  cure,  any  more  than 
that  a  good  sermon  or  comfortable  words  should 
cure  the  falling  sickness,  or  palsy,  or  a  broken 
head;  for  your  melancholy  fears  are  as  really 
a  bodily  disease  as  the  other,  only  because 
these  work  on  the  spirits  and  fantasy,  on  which 
words  of  advice  do  also  work  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent; therefore  such  words,  and  Scripture  and 
reason  may  somewhat  resist  it,  and  may  pal- 
liate and  allay  some  of  the  effects  at  the  pre- 
sent, but  as  soon  as  time  hath  worn  off  the 
force  and  effects  of  these  reasons,  the  distemper 
presently  returns." 


ON   RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  187 

As  the  cause  therefore  is  in  the  animal  part, 
it  must  be  reached,  if  at  all,  by  remedies  which 
it  comes  more  within  the  province  of  the 
medical  than  the  spiritual  counsellor  to  pre- 
scribe. The  physician,  it  is  true,  cannot  cure 
the  moral  cause  that  preys  upon  the  mind,  and, 
through  that  medium,  injures  the  body,  but  he 
can,  in  a  great  measure,  prevent  the  reaction  of 
the  body  on  the  mind,  by  which  reaction  the 
moral  affliction  is  rendered  infinitely  more  diffi- 
cult to  bear.  But  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that 
not  every  physician,  how  skilful  soever,  and 
learned,  and  successful  in  his  general  practice, 
is  qualified  to  instruct  the  description  of  pa- 
tients whom  these  remarks  contemplate.  No 
person  has  such  opportunities  of  studying  the 
mutual  and  reciprocating  relationship  between 
the  mind  and  body,  and  yet  it  is  one  on  which 
many  of  the  faculty  betray  the  most  culpable 
ignorance.  They  want  the  "  ability  of  search- 
ing out  and  understanding  the  moral  causes 
of  disease;  they  cannot  read  the  book  of  the 
heart;  and  yet  it  is  in  this  book  that  are  in- 
scribed, day  by  day,  and  hour  by  hour,  all  the 


188  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

griefs,  and  all  the  miseries,  and  all  the  vani- 
ties, and  all  the  fears,  and  all  the  joys,  and  all 
the  hopes  of  man,  and  in  which  will  be  found 
the  most  active  and  incessant  principle  of  that 
frightful  series  of  organic  changes  which  con- 
stitute pathology.  Many  a  disease  is  the  contre 
coup  (counter  blow,)  so  to  speak,  of  a  strong 
moral  emotion.  The  mischief  may  not  be  ap- 
parent at  the  time,  but  its  germ  will  be,  never- 
theless, inevitably  laid."  Such  sentiments  from 
an  eminent  lecturer  in  one  of  the  best  medical 
schools  of  Europe,  show  the  importance  of  spe- 
cial care  and  discretion  in  the  choice  of  a 
physician  for  a  malady  which,  by  their  own 
confession,  so  few  understand,  or  know  how  to 
treat.  Mr.  E-ogers  advises  all  the  afflicted  of 
this  sort  to  apply  to  doctors  not  only  learned 
in  the  profession  of  physic,  but  who  have 
themselves  felt  the  disease;  for  it  is  impossible 
fully  to  understand  the  nature  of  it  any  other 
way  than  by  experience:  and  that  person,  he 
says,  is  highly  to  be  valued,  whose  endeavours 
God  will  bless  to  the  removal  of  a  complaint 
so  obstinate  and  violent.     How  much  evil  has 


ON    RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  189 

resulted  from  the  injudicious  counsel  of  incom- 
petent advisers  who  can  compute'? 

Infelicitor  trgrotat,  iibi  plus  est  pcriculi,  a  mcdicamcnto  quaui  a 

morbo. 
It  is  a  sad  condition  for  tho  sick,  •when  they  arc  put  in  greater 

peril  by  their  treatment,  than  by  their  disease. 

Such,  however,  has  been  the  change  of  late 
years  in  the  character  of  diseases,  and  espe- 
cially so  great  has  been  the  increase  of  those 
by  which  the  mind  and  spiritual  affections  are 
disturbed,  that  cases  of  this  sort  are  better 
understood,  and  the  number  of  competent  ad- 
visers among  the  faculty  is  much  greater  than 
it  was  formerly.  It  is  an  interesting  fact, 
which  is  not  generally  known,  that  a  large 
proportion  of  our  more  serious  ailments  fall 
within  the  category  to  which  we  now  refer. 

Near  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
Sydenham  estimated  fevers  to  constitute,  at 
that  time,  two-thirds  of  the  diseases  of  man- 
kind. About  seventy  years  afterwards,  Dr. 
Cheyne  made  nervous  disorders  about  one- 
third  of  the  complaints  of  the  higher  class  in 
England.     At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 


190  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

century,  Trotter  supposed  them  to  constitute 
full  two-thirds  of  all  those  which  afflicted  civi- 
lized society.  And  a  later  writer  still,  expresses 
the  opinion  that  even  Trotter's  estimate  falls 
below  the  truth.  Of  the  four  hundred  thou- 
sand persons  who  died  in  England  during 
1856,  one  out  of  every  eight  died  of  diseases 
of  the  brain  and  nerves ;  and  one  out  of  every 
sixteen  died  of  diseases  of  the  digestive  organs. 
We  do  not  pretend  to  decide  as  to  the  com- 
parative accuracy  of  these  computations.  It  is 
enough  to  say,  that  the  lowest  is  sufficiently 
great  to  appal,  and  also  to  show,  that  no  de- 
partment of  the  healing  art  claims  more  earn- 
estly the  attention  of  physicians  than  this.  If 
the  connection  between  the  mind  and  body  be 
so  intimate  as  has  been  shown,  the  reasonable- 
ness of  this  resort  for  medical  advice  would 
be  obvious,  even  if  its  practical  value  had  not 
been  tested  by  common  experience.  How  often 
have  we  known  a  morbid  condition  of  the  mind 
or  spirits  to  be  as  speedily  and  as  effectually 
removed  by  the  operation  of  a  drug  as  a  pain 
in    the    head.      That  peevishness,    impatience. 


ON    RKTjniOUS    EXPERIENCE.  191 

and  irritability  which  make  one  intolerable  to 
himself  as  well  as  to  others,  we  sec  daily  re- 
lieved by  the  same  simple  agency,  as  by  the 
power  of  magic;  and  hence  "our  domestic 
happiness  often  depends  on  the  state  of  the 
biliary  and  digestive  organs;  and  the  little  dis- 
turbances of  conjugal  life  may  sometimes  be 
more  efficaciously  cured  by  the  physician  than 
by  the  moralist;  for  a  sermon  or  homily  mis- 
applied will  never  act  so  directly  as  a  sharp 
medicine." 

A  physician  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  was 
recently  invited  to  visit  a  lady  enjoying  appa- 
rent health,  living  in  affluence,  and  surrounded 
with  everything  which  wealth  and  elevated 
condition,  and  affectionate  friends  could  confer 
to  render  her  happy;  yet  in  the  midst  of  it 
all  she  felt  indescribably  wretched,  and  sent 
for  her  medical  adviser  to  explain  the  cause. 
It  was  a  case  of  plethoric  tendency,  which 
called  for  depiction.  A  moderate  bleeding 
afforded  relief,  and  in  a  very  few  days  she 
was  restored  to  her  former  cheerfulness. 

The  E-ev.  M.  B.  Hope,  M.D,,  in  a  well  writ- 


192  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

ten  Essay  on  Religious  Melancholy,  mentions 
the  case  of  a  young  lady,  who  had  been  long  and 
intimately  known  to  the  writer,  who  was  "of 
a  temperament  highly  nervous  and  sanguine, 
and  embarked  very  young,  with  all  her  ardour, 
in  the  gay  pleasures  of  fashionable  life.  A 
single  season  convinced  her  fully  of  their  emp- 
tiness and  folly.  She  was  soon  after  brought 
under  the  influence  of  pungent  preaching,  and 
convinced  of  sin.  The  struggle  was  sharp  and 
long;  but  the  result  was,  that  she  gave  herself, 
with  all  her  heart,  to  a  course  of  rigid  reli- 
gious duties.  Above  all,  she  seemed  to  live 
in  an  atmosphere  of  prayer.  Her  faith  in  the 
truth  and  promises  of  God,  was  without  the 
shadow  of  a  cloud.  And  yet  she  had  not  the 
pure  enjoyment  which  she  supposed  to  be  the 
necessary  fruit  of  real  piety.  She  did  not, 
therefore,  look  upon  herself  as  a  child  of  God ; 
and  her  consequent  anxiety  wore  upon  her 
spirit,  and  secretly  undermined  her  health.  At 
length,  one  day,  as  she  rose  from  prayer,  the 
thought  struck  her  like  a  thunderbolt,  'what 
if  there  is  no  God  after  all.'     She  repelled  the 


ON   RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  193 

thought  witli  liorror,  and  went  her  way.  But 
tlie  shock  liad  struck  from  her  liand  '  the 
shield  of  faith,'  and  all  her  efforts  were  unable 
to  grasp  it  again.  From  henceforth  she  found 
herself  exposed  to  a  constant  shower  of  darts, 
fiery  and  poisoned,  and  she  could  not  resist 
them.  They  stuck  fast  in  her  vitals,  and  drank 
up  her  spirits.  The  poison  thus  injected  into 
the  heart  of  her  religious  experience  soon 
spread,  and  blighted  the  whole.  She  never 
knew  a  moment's  peace,  when  her  thoughts 
were  upon  her  once  favourite,  and  still  engross- 
ing subject.  She  called  herself  an  infidel,  and 
applied  to  herself  the  dreadful  threatenings 
and  doom  of  the  unbeliever.  And  yet  it  was 
evident  she  was  not,  in  any  sense,  an  unbe- 
liever. She  was  one  of  the  most  devout  and 
consistent  persons  we  ever  knew.  Slie  was 
conscientious  even  to  scrupulosity.  She  was 
a  most  devoted  and  fliitliful  Sunday-school 
teacher,  and  God  blessed  her  labours  to  the 
conversion  of  nearly  all  her  scholars.  She  re- 
joiced to  hear  of  persons  becoming  Christians, 
and  would  often  say,  with  despair  in  her  tones, 
17 


194  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

how  she  envied  them.  When  any  of  her  ac- 
quaintances died  without  giving  good  evidence 
of  piety  she  became  excited,  and  as  she  ex- 
pressed it,  was  ready  to  scream  aloud.  She 
gave  every  possible  evidence  that  she  had  not, 
in  reality,  a  shadow  of  a  doubt  about  the  truth 
of  revelation.  And  yet  no  one  ever  dreamed 
that  her  difficulties  were  connected  with  dis- 
ease of  any  sort;  for  her  mind  was  remarkably 
clear,  and  active.  The  advice  of  pious  friends 
and  ministers,  therefore,  based  upon  the  suppo- 
sition that  her  case  was  one  of  spiritual  dark- 
ness, or  Satanic  temptation,  was  to  persevere 
in  prayer — to  struggle  on  more  earnestly,  and 
God  would  give  her  light  after  he  had  tried 
her  faith  and  patience  and  love.  But  the  more 
she  prayed  and  struggled  the  worse  she  grew. 
She  would  come  from  her  closet,  exhausted 
with  the  fearful  conflict,  and  looking  ready  to 
sink  into  utter  despair.  The  Sabbath  was 
always  the  worst  day  of  the  week;  and  the 
labour  and  exhaustion  of  teaching  aggravated 
her  symptoms. 

The  only   treatment  which  was   successful. 


ON    REMOIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  195 

in  this  case,  would  by  many  have  been  re- 
jected witli  horror.  She  was  advised  to  <;ivc 
up  the  struggle  which  slie  had  maintained  so 
unequally,  and  which  would  only  have  resulted 
in  disastrous  consequences — to  think  as  little 
as  possible  on  the  subject — to  spend  less  time 
in  devotional  exercises,  and  allow  her  mind  to 
gather  its  scattered  strength  by  relaxation. 
The  form  of  prayer  advised  was  short  and 
audible,  and  such  as  took  for  granted  what  she 
had  been  struggling  to  convince  herself  of. 
Incessant  pains  were  taken  to  present  the  cha- 
racter of  God  in  a  simple,  affectionate,  parental 
light,  when  anything  led  to  the  subject.  The 
simplicity  of  faith,  and  the  certainty  of  salva- 
tion, were  occasionally  flashed  across  her  mind, 
when  it  was  in  a  suitable  frame.  The  only 
two  evidences  of  piety  which  her  state  of  mind 
rendered  available,  were  kept  prominent  as  the 
basis  of  new  feelings  and  hopes,  viz.  her  love 
to  the  people  of  God,  and  the  pain  she  felt 
in  the  absence  of  divine  fivour,  and  tlie  long- 
ing for  its  return.  These  were  untouched  by 
the  dismal  monster  that  had  preyed  upon  her 
hopes. 


196  INrLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

By  a  judicious  perseverance  in  a  course 
like  this,  accompanied  with  well  directed  hy- 
gienic measures,  suitable  recreation,  exercise, 
and  diet,  for  improving  her  general  health,  and 
especially  the  tone  of  her  nervous  system,  the 
mental  energies  began  to  react,  and  new  views 
of  truth  and  new  hopes  spring  up  in  her 
mind." 

Another  case,  furnished  by  the  same,  and 
adduced  for  the  sake  of  showing  the  efficacy 
of  judicious  medical  treatment,  is  that  of  "a 
lady,  whose  state  of  mind  had  baffled  every 
attempt  made  by  her  judicious  husband,  to 
bring  her  relief.  She  was  a  woman  of  great 
refinement  and  strength  of  mind,  eminently 
pious,  and  devoted  to  her  interesting  young 
family,  whose  education  she  conducted  herself. 
While  conferring  every  accomplishment  upon 
her  children,  she  was  mainly  anxious  for  their 
spiritual  welfare.  When  we  saw  her,  she  was 
intensely  excited,  and  had  slept  little  for  seve- 
ral nights.  She  said  she  had  lost  all  interest 
in  the  instruction  of  her  children,  and  had 
become  utterly  regardless  of  their  personal  ap- 


ON    RKMiilOUS    EM'KIUKNCE.  197 

poarancc  and  her  own.  Ilcr  wliolo  thoughts 
and  foclings  were  engrossed  about  their  salva- 
tion, her  anxiety  for  wliieli  liad  beeomc  in- 
supportably  agonizing.  When  instructing,  or 
flressing,  or  leading  them  out  for  their  accus- 
tomed exercise,  she  was  incessantly  distracted 
with  the  thought,  what  good  will  all  this  do, 
while  they  arc  still  impenitent!  Though  her 
flushed  face  and  flashing  restless  eye,  indicated 
strong  physical  excitement,  yet  her  mind  was 
so  clear  on  every  subject,  and  all  her  vieAvs  so 
rational,  that  we  attributed  the  whole  difficulty 
to  excessive  and  protracted  anxiety,  for  an  ob- 
ject of  peculiar  interest  to  a  pious  mother — 
the  salvation  of  her  children.  AVe  made  re- 
peated attempts  to  reason  with  her  on  the  error 
and  evils  of  her  present  state  of  mind.  She 
admitted  fully  the  justice  of  our  reasoning, 
and  concurred  in  the  truth  of  all  our  positions, 
but  we  found  that  this  was  of  no  avail.  Her 
excitement  continued,  and  with  it  her  distress, 
and  all  her  difficulties.  It  appeared  like  a 
case  of  pure  religious  excitement,  and  was  so 
looked  upon  by  all  her  family.     They  did  not 

n* 


198  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

deem  her  deranged,  but  it  was  evident  she  soon 
would  be,  unless  relieved.  Finding  reasoning 
of  no  avail,  and  the  excitement  still  increasing, 
wo  became  convinced,  on  minute  examination, 
that  the  whole  difficulty  originated,  not  in  reli- 
gious views  or  feelings  at  all,  but  in  a  morbid 
increase  of  arterial  action,  arising  from  some 
physical  cause.  One-twelfth  of  a  grain  of  tartar 
emetic,  five  or  six  times  a  day,  gave  perfect 
relief,  and  restored  both  her  views  and  feelings 
to  the  healthy  standard." 

Dryden,  whose  mind,  notwithstanding  its 
capacity  for  elevated  and  brilliant  conceptions, 
was  sometimes  turbid  and  dull,  well  knew  the 
utility  of  medical  expedients  as  auxiliary  to 
thought.  "When  I  have  a  grand  design  be- 
fore me,"  says  he,  "  I  ever  take  physic  and  let 
blood;  for  when  you  would  have  pure  swift- 
ness of  thought  and  fiery  flights  of  fancy,  you 
must  have  a  care  of  the  pensive  part,  and  for 
this,  get  help  from  the  apothecary."  Descartes, 
the  philosopher,  went  farther  still,  and  asserted 
that  if  any  means  can  be  found  to  render  men 
wiser  and  more  ingenious  than  they  have  been 


ON    llKLlCKtLS    KXI'ERIENCE.  \'J\) 

hitherto,  such  a  method  must  be  sought  from 
the  assistance  of  medicine:  and  Phitarch,  speak- 
ing of  the  reaction  of  the  mind  upon  the  body- 
as  the  cause  of  those  injuries  wliich  it  requires 
medicine  to  repair,  very  playfully  observes,  that 
"  should  the  body  sue  the  mind  before  a  court 
of  judicature  for  damages,  it  would  be  found 
that  the  mind  had  proved  to  be  a  ruinous 
tenant  to  its  landlord." 

None,  we  trust,  will  infer  from  what  has 
thus  been  said  of  medical  assistance,  that  we 
approve  of  that  habitual  tampering  with  drugs, 
or  the  injudicious  perusal  of  medical  books, 
which  is  so  common  with  the  nervous  valetu- 
dinarian, by  wliich  he  only  makes  his  malady 
the  worse. 

Exuper.it  magis,  negrcscitquc  medcndo. 

The  disease  is  aggravated  by  the  means  used  to  cure  it. 

Kousseau  admitted  that  this  was  a  powerful 
cause  of  hypochondria  in  respect  to  himself. 
"Having  read,"  he  says,  "a  little  on  physio- 
logy, I  set  about  studying  anatomy;  and  pass- 
ing in  review  the  number  and  varied  actions 


200  INFLUENCE   OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

of  the  parts  wliicli  compose  my  frame,  I  ex- 
pected twenty  times  a  day  to  feel  them  going 
wrong.  Far  from  being  astonished  at  finding 
myself  dying,  my  wonder  was  that  I  could  live 
at  all.  I  did  not  read  the  description  of  any 
disease  which  I  did  not  imagine  myself  to  be 
affected  with;  and  I  am  sure  that  if  I  had  not 
been  ill,  I  must  have  become  so  from  this  fatal 
study.  Finding  in  every  complaint  the  symp- 
toms of  my  own,  I  believed  I  had  got  them 
all,  and  thereby  added  another  still  more  into- 
lerable, the  fantasy  of  curing  myself"  All 
this  private  empiricism  we  would  discourage, 
by  directing  the  sufferer  away  from  these  ex- 
periments upon  himself,  to  the  well-taught 
physician,  that  more  competent  counsellor,  who 
has  been  designated  by  Providence.  Another 
important  auxiliary  to  the  desponding  Chris- 
tian is 

Suitable  society, 
or  habitual  intercourse  with  others,  and  espe- 
cially the  devout,  who  possess  a  happier  tem- 
perament. 

'Whatever  clieeiful  aud  seieue 


Supports  the  niiiul,  suppoits  the  hcnly  too. 


ON    RKLKilOUS    KXPKRIKNCE.  201 

The  influence  of  sympathy,  its  operation  for 
both  evil  and  good,  is  familiarly  known.  "  We 
arc  all,"  says  Locke,  "  a  kind  of  chameleon, 
who  take  a  moral  tinge  from  the  objects  which 
surround  us."  The  manifestation  of  fear  or  of 
confidence  and  self-possession  in  a  time  of  dan- 
ger, inspires  a  corresponding  emotion  in  those 
who  behold  it.  The  "quid  times'?  Cacsarem 
veliis,"  or  Cccsar's  appeal  to  the  affrighted 
shipmaster,  not  to  be  afraid  while  lie  was 
aboard,  will  occur  as  a  striking  illustration; 
and  how  we  all  assimilate  in  character,  as 
well  as  in  manners,  to  those  with  whom 
we  associate,  is  a  fact  of  daily  observation. 
Hence  the  salutary  effect  of  a  cheerful,  san- 
guine Christian,  upon  those  who  are  prone 
to  melancholy.  As  iron  sharpeneth  iron.,  so  a 
man  sharpeneth  the  countenance  of  his  friend. 
His  society  is  exhilarating,  like  the  wine  pre- 
scribed by  Solomon  to  those  that  he  of  heavy 
hearts.  An  interview  with  those  of  their  own 
morbid  tendencies  may  be  advantageous  some- 
times, by  correcting  the  usual  mistake  of  such 
believers,  that  their  case  is  peculiar,  or  has  cer- 


202  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND    DISEASE 

tain  iinfovourable  cliavacteristics,  by  which  it  is 
placed  without  the  reach  of  the  ordinary  means 
of  relief.  A  comparison  of  exercises  and  senti- 
ments is  often  productive  of  good,  in  showing 
that  their  condition  is  not  so  singular  as  they 
had  imagined.  It  is  very  hard  indeed  to  per- 
suade a  person  under  great  pain  and  anguish, 
and  the  sense  of  the  wrath  of  God,  and  a  fear 
of  hell,  that  ever  any  has  heretofore  been  so 
pei-plexed  as  he.  Such,  generally,  think  them- 
selves worse  than  Cain,  or  Judas,  or  Simon 
Magus,  and  that  their  sins  have  greater  ag- 
gravation. Mr.  Rogers  says,  "I  have  known 
several  that  were  long  afflicted  with  trouble  of 
mind,  and  melancholy — as  Mr.  liosewell  and 
Mr.  Porter — both  ministers,  the  latter  whereof 
was  six  years  oppressed  with  this  distemper ; 
yet  afterwards  both  rejoiced  in  the  light  of 
God's  countenance.  I  myself  was  near  two 
years  in  great  pain  of  body,  and  greater  pain 
of  soul,  and  without  any  prospect  of  peace  or 
help;  and  yet  God  hath  revived  me  in  his 
sovereign  grace  and  mercy;  and  there  have 
been  several  heretofore  sorely  perplexed  with 


ON    RELir.IOUS   EXPERIENCE.  v   203 

great  inward  and  outward  trouble,  whom  God 
after  that  wonderfully  refreshed.  Mr.  Ivobert 
Bruce,  some  time  ago  minister  at  Edinburgh, 
was  twenty  years  in  terrors  of  conscience,  and 
yet  delivered  afterwards."  From  the  prevail- 
ing lack  of  sympathy  with  which  such  sufferers 
meet,  many  prefer  to  hide  their  sorrows  in 
their  own  bosom,  to  the  risk  of  opening  their 
heart  to  those  who  could  poorly  appreciate  an 
experience  so  foreign  to  their  own.  Thus  the 
late  Captain  Benjamin  Wickes,  of  Philadel- 
phia, concealed  his  long  and  oppressive  melan- 
choly for  nearly  twenty  years,  until  it  was 
discovered  by  that  devoted  servant  of  Christ, 
Mr.  Joseph  Eastbura,  whose  affectionate  con- 
versation and  judicious  counsels  were  the  means 
of  affordins:  immediate  relief. 

How  far  the  distressing  symptoms  of  Cow- 
pcr's  malady  were  mitigated  by  the  delightful 
society  of  the  Unwins,  is  easily  inferred  from 
his  memoirs ;  nor  are  any  of  us  so  imperturb- 
able in  our  spiritual  temperament,  as  not  to 
be  more  or  less  lifted  up  or  depressed  by  the 
joy  or  sadness  of  those  Christian  friends  with 


204:  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

whom  wc  mingle.  And  hence  one  of  four  car- 
dinal rules  which  the  eminent  casuist  already 
quoted,  has  given  to  melancholy  Christians,  is 
to  "keep  company  with  the  more  cheerful 
sort  of  the  godly;  converse  with  men  of  the 
strongest  faith,  that  have  much  of  the  heavenly 
mirth  of  believers,  which  faith  doth  fetch  from 
the  blood  of  Christ  and  from  the  promises  of 
his  word,  and  who  can  speak  experimentally 
of  the  joy  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  these  will 
be  a  great  help  to  the  reviving  of  your  spirit 
and  changing  your  melancholy  habit,  so  far  as 
without  a  physician  it  may  be  expected."  On 
the  other  hand,  decline,  so  far  as  practicable, 
the  society  of  the  gloomy  and  disconsolate. 
Their  sorrowful  spirit,  like  an  evil  distemper, 
is  contagious,  and  your  influence  upon  each 
other  will  be  reciprocally  prejudicial. 

Oderunt  hilarem  tristes,  tristemque  jocosi. 

The  grave  dislike  the  cheerful,  and  the  merry  hate  the  grave. 

Some  physiologists  contend  that  laughter, 
as  one  of  the  greatest  aids  to  digestion,  is 
highly  conducive  to  health,  and  therefore  Ilufe- 


ON    RELIGIOUS    EXPERIENCE.  205 

Liiul,  physician  to  the  king  of  Prussia,  com- 
mends the  wisdom  of  tlie  ancients,  wlio  main- 
tained a  jester,  that  was  always  present  at 
tlieir  meals,  "whose  quips  and  cranks  would 
keep  the  tahle  in  a  roar."  Dr.  Everard  Mayn- 
waring,  in  his  "Tutela  Sanitatis,"  published  in 
1GG3,  tells  his  melancholy  patients  to  walk  in 
the  green  fields,  orchards,  parks,  and  gardens — 
to  avoid  solitariness,  and  keep  merry  company. 
In  the  chapter  entitled  "  llygiastic  Precautions 
and  Rules  appropriate  to  the  various  Passions 
of  Mind,"  he  says:  "Mirth  subtiliates,  purifies, 
and  cheers  the  spirits ;  puts  them  upon  activity 
that  before  were  torpid,  dull,  and  heavy,  and 
excites  them  to  operation  and  duty  in  the 
several  faculties;  volatizetli,  rarifics,  and  atte- 
nuates gross,  feculent,  obstructing  humours; 
preserves  youth,  vigour,  and  beauty;  makes 
the  body  plump  and  fat,  by  expanding  the 
spirits  into  the  external  parts,  and  conveying 
nutriment,  wliose  wholesome  effects  are  much 
the  same  with  those  of  exercise,  and  may  well 
supply  w^hen  that  is  wanting. 

Dura  fata  sinunt  vivite  la3;i. — Seneca. 

Wliile  the  fates  ponuit,  lot  vour  life  ho  cheerful. " 

18 


206  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

Such  counsel,  quoted  from  the  okl  Roman 
philosopher,  on  whom  Father  Jerome  bestows 
such  extravagant  praise,  is  much  better  than 
some  of  his  instructions  for  carrying  it  into 
effect.  But  how  much  wiser  the  teaching  of 
Paul,  who  would  provide  against  a  large  pro- 
portion of  our  disquietudes  in  life,  by  a 
removal  of  the  cause.  We  are  prone  to  look 
no  further  than  to  our  own  case,  as  if  it 
were  peculiar,  and  nobody  ever  suffered  in 
the  same  way,  or  to  the  same  extent,  with 
ourselves.  But  this,  the  apostle  teaches,  is 
as  impolitic  as  it  is  selfish.  Look  not  every 
man  on  his  own  things^  hut  every  man  also  on 
the  things  of  others.  Do  not  dwell  in  perpe- 
tual meditation  on  the  ills  that  afflict  your- 
selves, but  turn  your  thoughts  sometimes  to 
the  incomparably  greater  trials  of  others.  Your 
mind  may  be  depressed  and  sad  under  the 
influence  of  some  imagined  or  real  malady,  but 
is  it  not  because  you  forget  how  much  better 
is  your  condition  than  that  of  many  whose 
"  days  are  blackness,  whose  every  breath  is  in 
suffering,  and  who  feed  on  tears'?"     You  may 


ON    llELKilOUS    KXI'EIUKNCE.  207 

not  possess  your  wonted  case  of  locomotion, 
and  perhaps  spend  many  long  days  and  nights 
in  great  pain.  But  what  is  all  that  you  en- 
dure, a  hundred-fold  increased,  compared  with 
the  bitter  cup  of  such  a  poor  suffering  cripple 
as  is  mentioned  by  Ur.  Hall,  who,  he  says,  is 
still  living  (1859)  at  the  age  of  forty-five,  with 
every  joint  in  liis  body  as  immovable  as  a 
solid  bone,  except  those  of  two  toes  and  two 
fingers.  His  jaws  ha\e  been  set  and  motion- 
less for  thirty  years,  the  only  aperture  through 
which  he  receives  food  being  that  made  by 
the  falling  out  of  his  front  teeth.  In  the 
Journal  of  Health  for  1859,  is  a  sprightly  let- 
ter to  the  editor  from  a  correspondent  in  Vir- 
ginia, who  describes  himself  as  rigid  and  help- 
less as  a  mass  of  stone;  his  eyes  and  tongue 
being  the  only  members  over  which  he  has 
the  least  control.  "jNIy  digestive  organs,"  he 
writes,  "have  lost  their  activity,  and  I  have  a 
distressing  asthmatic  affection.  The  inability 
to  open  my  jaws  forces  me  to  subsist  upon 
such  food  as  I  can  compress  through  a  cavity 
made  by   the  loss  of  two  of  my  teeth."     But 


208  INFLUENCE    OP    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

the  aspect  of  his  letter  is  bright  and  genial, 
indicating  a  livelier  sense  of  the  Divine  benefi- 
cence than  thousands  show,  who  have  health 
and  everything  around  them  to  make  life 
happy.  Examples  of  such  utter  physical  dis- 
ability in  the  organs  of  the  body,  and  derange- 
ment of  their  functions,  are  comparatively  rare. 
But  what  a  rebuke  do  they  minister  to  the 
thousands  of  murmurers  who  habitually  under- 
value the  blessings  of  Providence,  because 
their  abundance  and  commonness  make  them 
so  familiar.  One  of  the  happiest  persons  we 
ever  heard  of,  was  -a  lady  who  was  so  pros- 
trated by  palsy  that  she  had  no  power  over 
a  limb  or  muscle  from  her  neck  downwards, 
and  could  move  no  part  of  her  whole  person 
but  her  head.  Dr.  Paley  says,  that  one  great 
cause  of  our  insensibility  to  the  goodness  of 
the  Creator,  is  the  very  extensiveness  of  his 
bounty.  We  prize  but  little  what  we  share 
only  in  common  with  the  rest,  or  with  the 
generality  of  our  species.  When  we  hear  of 
blessings,  we  think  forthwith  of  successes,  of 
prosperous  fortunes,  of  honours,  riches,  prefer- 


ON    RELKilOUS   EXPERIENCE.  200 

mcnts — /.  (\  of  those  advantages  and  superiori- 
ties over  others  which  we  hn])pen  either  to 
possess  or  to  be  in  pursuit  of,  or  to  covet. 
The  common  benefits  of  our  nature  entirely 
escape  us.  Yet  these  arc  the  great  things. 
These  constitute  what  most  properly  ought  to 
be  accounted  blessings  of  Providence;  what 
alone,  if  we  might  so  speak,  are  worthy  of  its 
care.  Nightly  rest  and  daily  bread,  the  ordi- 
nary use  of  our  limbs,  and  senses,  and  under- 
standings, are  ♦  gifts  wliich  admit  of  no  com- 
parison with  any  other.  Yet,  because  almost 
every  man  we  meet  with  possesses  these,  we 
leave  them  out  of  our  enumeration;  they 
raise  no  sentiment,  they  move  no  gratitude. 
Now,  herein  is  our  judgment  perverted  by  our 
selfishness.  A  blessing  ought,  in  truth,  to  be 
the  more  satisfactory — the  bounty  at  least  of 
the  donor  is  rendered  more  conspicuous  by  its 
very  diffusion,  its  commonness,  its  cheapness; 
by  its  falling  to  the  lot,  and  forming  the  hap- 
piness of  the  great  bulk  and  body  of  our  spe- 
cies, as  well  as  ourselves.     Nay,  even  when  w"e 

lb* 


210  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

do  not  possess  it,  it  ought  to  be  a  matter  of 
thankfulness  that  others  do.  But  we  have  a 
different  way  of  thinking.  We  court  distinc- 
tion— that  I  do  not  quarrel  with — but  we  can 
see  nothing  but  what  has  distinction  to  recom- 
mend it.  This  necessarily  contracts  our  view 
of  the  Creator's  beneficence  within  a  narrow 
compass;  and  most  unjustly.  It  is  in  those 
things  which  are  so  common  as  to  be  no  dis- 
tinction, that  the  amplitude  of  the  divine 
benignity  is  perceived.  The  thirty-sixth  chap- 
ter of  his  work  on  Natural  Theology,  entitled 
"The  Goodness  of  the  Deity,"  from  which  we 
have  taken  the  preceding  paragraphs,  liis  bio- 
grapher says,  was  "written  under  the  pangs  of 
the  stone." 

Solomon's  opinion  of  the  beneficial  effect  of 
cheerfulness  is  easily  inferred,  not  only  from 
the  manner  in  which  he  commends  it,  but 
the  frequency.  A  merry  heart.,  he  says,  doetli 
good  like  a  medicine.,  hut  a  broken  spirit  drieth 
the  hones.  Or,  as  it  is  better  rendered  per- 
haps, in  the  old  translation,  "A  joyful  heart 
causeth    good   health;    but   a   sorrowful   mind 


ON    IlKLKilOUS    EXPEUIENCK.  211 

(Iricth  the  bones."  A  fourth  counsel,  of  incal- 
culable value  to  those  who  would  enjoy  spirit- 
ual comfort,  is  to 

Be  temperate. 

We  refer  not  merely  to  the  total  disuse  of 
alcoholic  drinks  and  intoxicating  drugs,  which 
will  be  presumed,  of  course,  but  to  that  habit- 
ual control  over  every  appetite  which  will  keep 
us  within  the  limits  that  are  prescribed  by 
both  reason  and  health. 

Learn  temperance,  friends;  and  bear  without  disdain 
The  choice  of  water.     Thus  the  Coan  sage* 
Opin'd,  and  thus  the  learned  of  every  school. 

In  respect  to  drink,  Dr.  Johnson  says  "  water 
is  the  only  fluid  which  does  not  possess  irri- 
tating, or  at  least,  stimulating  qualities;  and  in 
proportion  as  we  rise  on  the  scale  of  potation, 
from  table-beer  to  ardent  spirits,  in  the  same 
ratio  we  educate  the  stomach  and  bowels  for 
that  state  of  morbid  sensibility,  which,  in  civi- 
lized life,  will  sooner  or  later  supervene." 

It  does  not  properly  fall  within  the  scope 
of  the  writer  to  furnish  such  details  as  would 

*  Hippocrates. 


212  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DLSEASE 

be  expected  in  a  dietetical  treatise,  and  which 
would  come  with  more  authority  from  an  ex- 
perienced physician.  Burton,  in  his  most 
extraordinary  work  called  the  "Anatomy  of 
Melancholy,"  has  given  a  curious  disquisition 
on  the  intrinsic  qualities  of  different  kinds  of 
food,  and  of  their  comparative  tendency  to 
nurture  certain  pleasant  or  painful  affections 
of  the  mind,  as  well  as  animal  propensities; 
hut  like  many  of  the  opinions  of  this  eccentric 
writer,  it  is  to  be  received  with  some  material 
abatements.  Dr.  Rush,  however,  asserts  that 
the  effects  of  diet  upon  the  moral  faculty  are 
more  certain,  though  less  attended  to,  than  the 
effects  of  climate;  that  the  quality,  as  well  as 
the  quantity  of  the  aliment,  has  its  influence ; 
and  that  pride,  cruelty,  and  sensuality,  are  as 
much  the  natural  consequences  of  luxurious 
living,  as  are  apoplexies  and  palsies.  Fulness 
of  bread,  we  are  told,  was  one  of  the  predis- 
posing causes  of  the  vices  of  the  cities  of  the 
plain.  He  concurs  too,  with  Dr.  Paris  and 
other  eminent  medical  writers,  both  foreign 
and  domestic,  in  reprobating  the  too  free  use 


ON    RELKilOUS    EXPERIENCE.  213 

of  animal  food  by  persons  of  sedentary  habits, 
Avliich  not  only  predisposes  to  inflammatory 
diseases,  but  has  a  sensible  influence  on  the 
morals.  Dr.  McNish,  of  Glasgow,  quotes  with 
approbation  another  opinion  of  Ilufeland,  that 
"  infiints  who  are  accustomed  to  eat  much 
animal  food  become  robust,  but  at  the  same 
time  passionate,  violent,  and  brutal."  It  is 
said  that  a  man  living  solely  on  beef,  as  the 
Indians  generally  do,  and  full  of  freedom  and 
fresh  air,  has  blood  very  nearly  approaching, 
in  chemical  character,  to  that  of  a  lion;  the 
fibrin  and  red  globules  being  more  abundant, 
in  proportion  to  the  liquor  sanguinis,  and  the 
temper  of  his  mind  approximates  to  the  indo- 
mitable savage.  When  the  Hon.  C.  A.  Murray 
had  been  living  for  some  time  entirely  on 
bufialo-beef,  among  the  Pawnee  Indians,  his 
body  got  into  the  true  savage  training,  and  in 
the  excitement  and  liberty  of  the  wilds,  he 
enjoyed  the  perfection  of  his  animal  nature. 
In  describing  the  kind  of  intoxication  arising 
from  over-stimulating  blood,  he  says,  "I  have 
never   known   such   excitement   in  any  exer- 


214  INFLUENCE   OP    HEALTH   AND    DISEASE 

cise  as  I  have  experienced  from  a  solitary 
walk  among  the  mountains;  thoughts  crowd 
upon  thoughts  which  I  can  neither  control 
nor  breathe  in  words."  The  efficacy  of  a 
vegetable  diet  upon  the  passions,  w-as  veri- 
fied in  the  practice  of  Dr.  Arbuthnot,  w-ho 
assures  us  that  he  cured  several  patients  of 
irascible  tempers,  by  nothing  but  the  pre- 
scription of  a  simple  vegetable  regimen.  Some 
devout  persons,  like  Payson,  have  erred  on 
the  side  of  excessive  abstinence;  which  his 
biographer  pronounces  to  have  been  the  great 
mistake  of  his  life.  To  what  extremes  others 
have  been  carried  under  the  influence  of 
superstition,  to  mortify  the  body  for  the  sins 
of  the  soul,  is  familiar  to  all  who  are  con- 
versant with  the  history  of  Asceticism ;  but  the 
more  common  and  dangerous  error  by  far,  is 
the  opposite,  or  that  of  indulging  the  appe- 
tite too  freely. 

"When  we  contemplate  each  varying  tribe 
of  mankind,  from  the  turtle-eating  alderman 
to  the  earth-devouring  Ottomaque,  and  see  him 
subsist,    exclusively  or   collectedly,    on    every- 


ON   RETJniOUS   EXPERIENCE.  215 

tiling  wliicli  air,  earth,  or  ocean  can  produce, 
witli,  cocteris  paribus,  an  equal  degree  of  lon- 
gevity, we  are  irresistibly  led  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  is  principally  by  excess  that  we  con- 
vert food  into  poison,  and  become  liable  to  the 
attack  of  that  Protean  host  of  human  miseries, 
called  Nervous  Diseases.  Thus,  ])r.  Combe 
reasserts,  with  special  approbation,  the  pub- 
lished opinion  of  a  distinguished  American 
physician,  that  intemperate  eating  is  almost  a 
universal  fault;  that  it  is  begun  in  the  cradle, 
and  continued  till  we  go  down  to  the  grave ; 
that  it  is  far  more  common  than  intemperance 
in  drinking;  and  the  aggregate  of  mischief 
that  it  docs,  is  greater. 

riiircs  crajmla,  quani  glsi'lius. 
Gluttony  kills  more  than  the  sworcl. 

"For  every  reeling  drunkard  that  disgraces 
our  country,  it  contains  one  hundred  persons 
who  eat  to  excess  and  suffer  by  the  practice." 
Baglivi,  a  celebrated  lloman  physician,  men- 
tions, that  in  Italy  an  unusually  large  propor- 
tion  of  the    sick   recovered   during    Lent,    in 


216  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND   DISEASE 

consequence  of  tlie  lower  diet  which  is  then 
observed  as  a  part  of  the  reUgious  duties  of 
the  season.  An  eminent  physician  of  London, 
writing  on  the  influence  of  the  luxurious  habits 
of  that  great  metropolis  on  the  health  of  the 
higher  classes,  asserts  that  there  is  not  one  in 
ten  whose  digestive  organs  are  in  a  healthy 
condition.  This  is  proved,  he  says,  incontest- 
ably  by  the  tint  of  the  eye  and  countenance, 
the  feel  of  the  skin,  the  state  of  the  tongue, 
the  stomach,  and  the  bile. 

Let  the  whole  subject  of  dietetic  economy 
then,  be  carefully  regarded  by  those  who  are 
subject  to  spiritual  and  nervous  depression; 
and  while  the  conflicting  opinions  of  the  fac- 
ulty, on  the  subject  of  diet  or  regimen,  will 
abundantly  show  how  "doctors  disagree,"  yet 
they  are,  nevertheless,  replete  with  suggestions 
of  the  highest  practical  value.  It  need  hardly 
be  remarked,  that  independent  of  the  influence 
on  the  animal  spirits  and  health,  yet  as  pre- 
scribed by  Christian  morality,  the  appetites 
should  be  kept  under  habitual  control.  The 
spiritual  man  should  learn,  with    the    apostle 


ON   RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  217 

Paul,  to  keep  his  body  under.  lie  should  live 
in  tliat  elevated  state  of  communion  with  God, 
that  he  will  not  be  tempted  to  descend  from 
the  higher  and  purer  enjoyments  of  his  reli- 
gion, to  seek  happiness  in  the  gratification  of 
the  epicurean  and  sensualist.  But  how  far  it 
is  lawful  to  indulge  a  healthful  appetite  at  his 
table  from  day  to  day,  is  a  question  of  morals 
which  cannot  be  settled  for  a  Christian  by  any 
of  the  rules  of  medical  science  or  physiology. 
Put  a  A'H/fe  to  thy  throaty  Solomon  says,  if  thou 
he  a  man  given  to  appetite.  Restrain  thyself,  as 
if  excess  or  repletion  were  death.  But  what 
may  be  received  as  at  once  the  fruit  of  expe- 
rience and  the  dictate  of  science,  has  been 
expressed  in  the  measures  of  a  writer  not  less 
gifted  with  poetic  genius  than  with  medical 
knowledge : 

beyond  the  sense 


Of  liglit  refection,  at  the  genial  board 
Indulge  not  often,  nor  protract  the  feast 
To  dull  satiety. 

Dr.    Holland's    three   rules    are:    1.  Not   to 
eat  so  much  nor  so  long,  as  to  cause  a  sense 
19 


218  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

of  uneasy  repletion.  2.  The  rate  of  eating 
always  to  be  so  slow  as  to  allow  thorough 
mastication.  3.  Use  no  urgent  exercise,  either 
of  body  or  mind,  immediately  after  a  full  meal. 
Rules,"  he  remarks,  "  whose  simplicity  and 
familiarity  may  lessen  their  seeming  value, 
yet  in  practice  they  will  be  found  to  include, 
directly  or  indirectly,  a  great  proportion  of  the 
cases  that  come  before  the  faculty  for  treat- 
ment." To  these,  however,  he  virtually  adds  a 
fourth,  in  a  subsequent  paragraph,  in  which 
he  earnestly  dehorts  from  the  pernicious  habit 
of  directing  the  attention  after  eating  to  the 
region  of  the  stomach,  as  tending  greatly  to 
disturb  the  process  of  digestion.  To  the  ques- 
tion, How  much  ought  I  to  eaf?  Dr.  Hall  says, 
it  ought  to  be  a  sufficient  rule  for  all  men  of 
common  sense  to  reply — eat  what  you  want, 
and  as  much  as  you  want,  and  at  regular 
times.  But  in  the  imperfect  subjection  to  rea- 
son, instinct,  and  appetite,  in  which  we  find 
ourselves,  a  more  definite  guide  is  needed. 
The  amount  of  food  required  differs  with  the 
different  seasons.     We  need   more   in  winter 


OM    RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  219 

than  in  summer.  It  differs  witli  the  weather; 
more  food  is  needed  in  a  cokl,  damp,  raw 
day,  than  in  a  cheerful,  dry,  warm  one.  Men 
require  more  food  tlian  women;  those  who 
hibour,  more  than  those  who  rest;  those  who 
arc  growing,  more  than  those  who  have  reached 
maturity.  To  hiy  down  rules  for  all  these, 
would  require  a  better  memory  than  would  be 
exercised;  and  to  weigh  out  the  food  to  eacli 
particular  case,  would  be  attended  with  a  very 
great  deal  of  trouble.  His  opinion  is,  that  in 
most  cases,  sedentary  men  in  health  eat  too 
much,  and  that  the  necessity  for  so  many  hours 
of  bodily  exercise  which  many  undergo,  is  a 
penalty  for  excessive  indulgence  of  appetite. 
Doubtless  a  certain  quantity  of  food  is  neces- 
sary to  sustain  the  physical  man  in  the  vigor- 
ous use  of  his  bodily  functions;  so  is  exercise 
not  less  needful  for  the  twofold  object,  first,  to 
work  off  and  push  out  from  the  body  all  that 
is  foreign,  old,  and  useless;  second,  to  replace 
these  with  strong,  well-made  particles;  thus 
keeping  the  system  clear  of  all  rubbish,  and 
replenishing  it  with  what  is  new  and  perfect. 


220  INFLUENCE   OF    HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

And  yet  it  may  be  incidentally  remarked 
here — and  it  contains  a  great  practical  truth — 
the  less  a  man  cats  to  a  certain  limit,  the  less 
he  has  to  work  off.  Hence,  those  who  eat 
little  and  work  little,  can  study  quite  as  much, 
and  as  advantageously,  as  those  who  eat  a 
great  deal,  and,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  their 
surplusage,  have  either  to  spend  a  large  share 
of  their  time  in  working,  or  in  washing  or 
scrubbing  it  off*  with  hard  flesh-brushes — that 
is  to  say,  for  the  few  minutes  pleasure  of  the 
passage  of  food  down  the  throat,  hours  of 
otherwise  unrequited  exercise  have  to  be  gone 
through,  or  dancing  under  cool  shower-baths, 
or  the  purgatorial  application  of  hair-gloves  or 
bristle-brushes.  If  literary  men  would  drink 
only  water,  and  eat  one-half  less,  they  could 
well  afford  to  dispense  with  the  fruitless  exer- 
cises and  penances  just  referred  to.  Few  per- 
sons afflicted  with  despondency  are  aware  how 
their  malady  is  often  aggravated  by  the  occa- 
sional irritation  of  food  or  drink  reacting  on 
their  mind  by  reason  of  the  morbid  sensibility 
of  the  stomach.     Dr.  Johnson  says,    "I  have 


OS    RKKKilOUS    EXRERIENCE.  221 

known  many  persons  that  found  themselves  so 
irritable  after  eating  certain  articles  of  difficult 
digestion,  tliat  they  avoided  society  till  the  fit 
went  off."  Hence  the  rule  that  he  gives  to 
enable  each  person  to  decide  his  own  case  is, 
''any  discomfort  of  body,  any  irritability  or 
despondency  of  mind  succeeding  food  or  drink 
at  the  distance  of  an  hour,  a  day,  or  even  two 
or  three  days,  may  be  regarded — other  evident 
causes  being  absent — as  a  presumptive  proof 
that  the  quantity  has  been  too  much,  or  the 
quality  injurious."  It  is  said,  in  the  Life  of 
President  Edwards,  that  although  of  an  infirm 
constitution  and  indifferent  health,  yet  he  was 
able  to  spend  thirteen  hours  daily  in  his  study. 
This  surprising  power  of  endurance  is  ex- 
plained in  the  succeeding  paragraph,  in  which 
we  read  that  he  carefully  observed  the  effects 
of  different  sorts  of  food,  and  selected  those 
which  best  fitted  him  for  mental  labour.  Hav- 
ing also  ascertained  the  quantity  of  food  which, 
while  it  sustained  his  bodily  strength,  left  his 
mind  most  sprightly  and  active,  he  scrupulously 
conlined  himself  within  the  prescribed  limits. 
19* 


llL  influence  of  health  and  disease 

But  not  to  dwell  in  details  that  are  so  accessi- 
ble in  elaborate  treatises  on  this  very  subject, 
and  that  are  deservedly  held  in  the  highest 
repute,  we  will  only  add,  that  the  substance  of 
what  we  have  designed  to  say  in  the  preceding 
remarks,  is  comprehended  in  an  old  Latin  dis- 
tich, by  whom  composed  we  do  not  recollect : 

Si  tibi  deficiant  medici,  medici  tibi  fiant 

Ho9C  tria;  mens  hilaris,  requies,  moderata  dioeta, 

which  one  has  paraphrased  in  the  following 
clumsy  couplet: 

Employ  three  physicians;  first,  Doctor  Diet, 
Then  Doctor  Merryman,  with  Doctor  Quiet. 

Another  counsel  to  be  heeded  with  special 
care  by  the  desponding,  is  to 

Be  habitually  occupied. 

We  refer  not  to  bodily  exercise  merely,  so 
essential  to  vigorous  health,  and  to  a  lively 
flow  of  the  animal  spirits,  but  we  speak  of 
occupation  for  the  mind,  in  connection  with 
some  useful  employment,  to  save  it  from  those 
morbid  actings  by  which  it  is  made  the  prey 
to  its  own  energies.     Many  diseases  of  body  are 


ox    KKLUilOUS    EXPERIENCE.  223 

produced,  increased,  and  perpetuated  by  the 
attention  being  directed  to  the  disordered  part, 
but  tlie  employment  which  diverts  the  atten- 
tion from  the  disease,  often  cures  it.  It  is  said 
that  Kant  was  able  to  forget  the  pain  of  gout 
by  a  voluntary  effort  of  thought;  and  par- 
oxysms of  his  disease,  that  would  have  laid 
others  aside,  were  scarcely  heeded,  while  his 
mind  was  absorbed  by  some  problem  in  meta- 
physics. We  once  knew  an  enterprising  and 
successful  man  of  business,  who  had  hardly 
reached  the  meridian  of  his  life  before  he  had 
made  a  handsome  fortune.  He  w\t,s  now  ad- 
vised to  sell  his  establishment,  and  live  for  the 
future  more  at  his  ease.  The  counsel  was 
well  intended;  it  seemed  to  be  judicious,  and 
was  followed;  but  the  sudden  abstraction  of  so 
much  care,  by  which  his  mind  had  been  dis- 
tended, caused  a  collapse.  He  soon  became 
unhappy,  desponding,  and  would  have  sunk 
into  a  state  of  melancholy  but  for  the  interpo- 
sition of  friends,  who  perceived  at  once  his 
alarming  condition,  and  the  obvious  cause. 
Without  asking  his  consent,  they  re-purchased 


224  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

his  place  of  business,  and  induced  him  to  re- 
sume it.  In  a  few  weeks  he  recovered  his 
former  cheerfulness  and  mental  energy.  Em- 
ployment gave  a  healthful  stimulus  to  his  mind, 
which  suffered  no  relapse  to  its  former  morbid 
state  through  many  years  to  the  close  of  a 
long  and  useful  life. 

Whoever  has  noticed  the  amazing  power  of 
the  thoughts  in  disturbing  the  functions  of  the 
body,  will  accord  with  the  poet,  that 

'Tis  the  great  art  of  life  to  manage  well 
The  restless  mind. 

This  is  none  the  less  true  in  relation  to 
religious  men  than  to  others.  "  There  are 
many,"  Cecil  says,  "who  sit  at  home,  nursing 
themselves  over  a  fire,  and  then  trace  up  the 
natural  effects  of  solitude,  and  want  of  air  and 
exercise,  into  spiritual  desertion.  But  this  is 
to  confound  nature  and  grace,  and  to  make  a 
sort  of  mystery  of  that  which  is  readily  con- 
nected with  a  natural  cause."  Now  and  then 
we  find  one  who  appears  to  be  happy  in  a  sort 
of  quietism,  or  cloistered  piety,  which  rather 
shuns   than    seeks    communion   with   what    is 


ON   RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  225 

without.  How  it  will  be  in  the  world  to 
come,  we  do  not  pretend  to  say;  but  it  has 
never  been  found  in  this,  that  they  are  the 
happiest  in  religion  who  withdraw  from  all 
active  occupation,  and  spend  their  whole  time 
in  devout  contemplations.  No  man,  it  has  been 
said,  is  ever  more  religious  for  having  his  mind 
constantly  occupied  with  religion.  This  may 
seem  a  parodox,  but  those  who  know  how 
little  necessary  connection  there  is  between 
theological  studies  and  spirituality  of  mind, 
and  hoAV  much  a  professional  familiarity  with 
such  subjects  tends  to  deteriorate  their  influ- 
ence, will  readily  subscribe  to  the  truth  of  the 
assertion.  Although  the  truly  pious  man  can 
have  but  one  dominant  motive,  the  glory  of 
God,  yet  the  active  powers  of  the  mind  will 
find  useful  and  pleasant  exercise  in  a  thousand 
different  ways  of  promoting  it.  To  be  engaged 
in  doing  good  then,  is  alike  needful  to  the 
happiness  of  the  spiritual  man  and  to  his 
health. 

Under  a  former  head,  we  quoted  one  of  four 
rules  for  the  relief  of  melancholy  Christians, 


22G  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

and  here  we  add  another  from  the  same  au- 
thor, viz.  "  to  avoid  idleness  and  want  of  em- 
ployment; which,  as  it  is  a  life  not  pleasing 
to  God,  so  it  is  the  opportunity  for  melancholy 
thoughts  to  be  working,  and  the  chiefest  sea- 
son for  Satan  to  tempt  us."  It  has  often  been 
observed  in  relation  to  clergymen  who  have 
been  laborious  and  useful,  that  they  ill  endure 
a  change  to  leisure  from  the  occupation  of  a 
pastoral  charge;  but  that  in  their  sine  titulo 
condition,  they  are  apt  to  become  either  ner- 
vous and  low-spirited,  or  turn  to  doing  harm. 

We  were  struck  with  a  remark  of  Dr.  Green, 
many  years  ago,  on  his  retirement  from  Prince- 
ton, "  that  he  did  not  know  whether  hereafter 
he  should  do  much  good;  but  he  was  resolved, 
if  possible,  to  avoid  doing  mischief,  which  was 
more  than  was  apt  to  be  true  of  many  of  his 
brethren  in  similar  circumstances." 

To  brood  over  our  spiritual  maladies,  watch- 
ing from  day  to  day  our  changing  frames,  will 
no  more  help  to  attain  a  better  spiritual  condi- 
tion, than  the  fingering  of  his  pulse,  or  exam- 
ining the  tongue   by  the  victim    of  dyspepsia 


ON    RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  ^lli 

will  conduce  to  liis  more  healthful  digestion. 
In  cither  case,  the  less  he  thinks  of  himself 
the  better;  and  the  only  effectual  expedient 
for  diverting  his  thoughts  will  be  found  in 
^ome  pleasant  and  useful  occupation.  Such 
was  the  relief  which  Cowper  derived  from  his 
labour  in  translating  Homer,  and  the  poetical 
works  of  Madam  Guion;  and  to  find  an  anti- 
dote to  his  distressing  melancholy  was  sup- 
posed to  be  Dr.  Johnson's  main  inducement 
for  proposing,  towards  the  close  of  his  life,  to 
publish  a  translation  of  Thuanus.  for  the 
same  purpose  of  turning  his  mind  from  its 
troubling  meditations,  he  advised  Boswell,  who 
was  as  much  given  to  despondency  as  himself, 
"  never  to  speak  of  it  to  his  friends  in  com- 
pany." 

"  Were  I  asked,"  says  a  well  known  writer, 
"upon  what  circumstance  the  prevention  of 
low  spirits  chiefly  depended,  I  should  borrow 
the  ancient  orator's  mode  of  enforcing  the 
leading  principle  of  his  art,  and  reply — em- 
ployment —  employment —  employment.  This 
is  the  grand  panacea  for  the  tiedium  vitir,  and 


228  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

all  the  train  of  fancied  evils  which  prove  so 
much  more  insupportable  tlian  real  ones.  It 
is  a  medicine  that  may  be  presented  in  a 
thousand  forms,  all  equally  efficacious." 

We  remember  the  case  of  a  fellow-student 
in  our  theological  course,  whose  mind  was  so 
disquieted  with  fears  about  his  spiritual  condi- 
tion, that  it  became  a  serious  question  whether 
he  should  not  renoimce  the  hope  of  entering 
the  ministry;  but  upon  a  statement  of  his  case 
to  one  of  his  teachers,  he  was  advised  to  dis- 
continue his  examinations  of  himself  for  a 
season,  take  it  for  granted,  if  he  pleased,  that 
his  state  was  as  bad  as  he  feared,  but  to  turn 
his  attention  to  the  case  of  others,  pray  more 
for  them,  and  resolve  to  do  all  in  his  power 
for  their  salvation.  This  counsel  was  received, 
and  was  followed  with  the  happiest  results. 
His  mind  was  gradually  relieved,  his  spirits 
became  buoyant  and  cheerful,  and  after  finish- 
ing his  studies,  he  entered  the  sacred  profes- 
sion with  a  joyful  hope  of  his  calling  and  sal- 
vation, which  continued  to  the  end  of  his  life. 
Rev.  Dr.  Lobdell  was  at  one  time  in  a  state 


ON    RKI.KIIOUS    EXPERIENCE.  229 

of  distressing  doubt  about  three  great  ques- 
tions pertaining  to  Christianity — Wlicther  it 
was  true"? — AVas  lie  personally  interested  in 
it  I — Had  he  been  called  of  God  to  preach 
it  ?  The  very  solicitude  which  he  felt  on  the 
subject  was  evidence  of  his  spiritual  change, 
although  he  seemed  not  to  know  it.  But 
instead  of  first  undertaking  to  investigate  the 
evidences  of  Christianity,  then  the  subject  of 
his  personal  faith  and  salvation,  and,  last  of 
all,  his  call  to  the  ministry,  the  process  was 
exactly  reversed.  He  first  resolved  to  make 
it  the  purpose  of  his  life  to  preach  the  gospel. 
"Then,  and  not  till  then,  did  he  experience 
the  prcciousncss  of  the  Saviour  to  his  own 
soul."  His  doubts  and  difficulties  all  vanished 
like  darkness  and  mist  before  the  rising  sun. 
It  was  by  doijiq  of  the  will  of  God  that  he 
was  made  to  know  the  truth  of  his  doctrine. 
And  so  on  in  all  his  future  life,  whenever 
doubts  and  difficulties  revived,  they  were  re- 
moved, not  by  reasoning,  but  by  losing  sight 
of  them  in  doing  the  will  of  his  Divine  Mas- 
ter. We  would  say,  then,  to  every  troubled 
20 


230  INFLUENCE    OP   HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

believer,  copy  his  example.  Let  not  an  ele- 
vated condition  in  life,  and  wealth,  if  yon  have 
them,  tempt  you  to  be  idle.  If  not  required 
to  toil  for  your  daily  bread,  yet  let  a  regard 
for  your  happiness  and  health,  and  the  moni- 
tions of  conscience,  make  you  as  industrious 
as  if  you  were.  Consider  your  affluence  and 
leisure  as  talents,  by  means  of  which  you  have 
the  enviable  opportunity  of  promoting  the  wel- 
fare of  others,  gratuitously,  in  a  thousand 
modes,  which  are  forbidden  to  others.  Go 
join  yourself  to  the  most  active  benefactors 
of  society;  enter  their  ranks,  or  plant  yourself 
in  the  van.  Take  your  full  share  in  the 
labours  of  the  Sunday-school  or  Bible-class 
teacher,  the  distribution  of  tracts,  the  visiting 
of  the  poor  and  sick,  and  afflicted.  Deny 
yourself  many  gratifications  of  ease,  and  plea- 
sure, and  advantage,  for  the  sake  of  redeem- 
ing the  time  and  the  means  of  doing  more 
good.  Aim  directly,  like  Harlan  Page,  at  the 
single  object  of  saving  men's  souls;  and  whe- 
ther your  success  shall  correspond  to  your 
wishes  or  not,  you  shall  enjoy  the  reflex  ad- 


ON    II  ELK  nous   EXI'EIUENCE.  231 

vantage   of    your   benevolence.      In    watering 
others,  you  shall  be  watered  yourself. 

We  arc  aware  of  the  difficulty  of  complying 
with  this  counsel,  in  many  cases,  and  none  are 
more  peculiarly  trying  than  those  of  clergy- 
men, who,  from  declining  health,  advancing 
age,  or  some  untoward  events,  have  been  dis- 
lodged from  posts  of  active  usefulness,  and 
have  now  nothing  to  do  which  is  suited  to 
their  character,  capacity,  and  circumstances. 
Such,  it  is  well  known,  is  often  the  unhappy 
condition  of  some  of  the  most  useful,  as  well 
as  respectable  and  venerable  ministers  of  the 
church;  and  it  is  one  of  the  ominous  signs  of 
the  times,  that  their  number  seems  to  be  in- 
creasing. From  the  emoluments  of  their  call- 
ing, few  derive  more  than  the  means  for  a 
very  frugal  maintenance  of  their  family,  and 
therefore,  when  by  reason  of  age  and  multi- 
plied infirmities,  the  grasshopper  has  become  a 
burden,  they  find  superadded  to  all  their  afflic- 
tions the  trials  of  poverty.  AVe  will  not  en- 
large; but  for  ourselves,  we  are  constrained 
to  say,  that  we  feel  it  to  be  a  material  defect 


232  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

in  our  ecclesiastical  economy,  that  their  con- 
dition and  claims  are  not  more  particularly 
and  tenderly  regarded;  that  in  view  of  the 
resources  and  benevolence  of  the  Church,  some- 
thing has  not  been  projected  at  least,  if  not 
carried  into  effect,  by  which  such  an  important 
casus  omissus  should  have  been  provided  for, 
some  feasible  plan  by  which  their  remaining 
strength,  their  stores  of  learning  and  experi- 
ence, may  be  turned  to  a  profitable  account, 
and  these  Mnasons  of  the  ministry  made  happy 
and  useful  during  the  remnant  of  their  pil- 
grimage. Persons  subject  to  depression  should 
"Watch  and  promote  bodily  health." 
A  counsel  which  we  quote  from  a  letter  of 
the  friend  mentioned  in  our  introductory  note. 
We  did  not  then  know  to  what  extent  his 
sense  of  the  value  of  health  was  suggested  by 
the  precarious  state  of  his  own.  The  influence 
of  the  body  on  the  mental  and  moral  faculties, 
shows  the  importance  of  a  scrupulous  attention 
to  the  former;  to  the  use  of  all  the  means  by 
which  it  may  be  preserved  from  any  form  of 
disease,  and  in  the  healthful  exercise  of  all  its 


ON    RELKilOUS    EXPERIENCE.  233 

functions.  The  fact  cannot  be  impressed  too 
deeply,  tliat  tlie  connection  between  our  sad 
and  joyous  emotions  and  our  health  is  as 
inseparable  as  is  that  between  the  machinery 
of  a  clock  or  watch  and  the  hands  on  the  dial- 
plate:  the  movements  which  meet  the  eye  are 
right  or  wrong,  according  to  the  condition  of 
the  wheels  and  parts  that  are  invisible — 

Sine  aninio  corpus,  ncc  sine  corporo 
Animus,  bene  valcre  potest. 

The  mind  or  body  ill,  each  partner  feels 
The  sufferings  of  the  other. 

On  a  subject  of  so  much  interest  we  have 
the  teachings  of  many  authors,  some  of  whom 
not  only  weary  by  their  diffuse  details,  but 
greatly  perplex  the  mind  by  their  disagree- 
ment among  themselves.  To  those  who  need 
instruction  most,  and  who  have  not  the  oppor- 
tunity nor  the  time  for  much  reading  of  this 
sort,  it  may  be  useful,  at  the  risk  of  being 
thought  prolix,  to  recapitulate  and  present 
again,  in  a  connected  form  and  with  some 
amplification,  a  few  of  the  instructions  given 
very  briefly  in  the  preceding  pages  on  the 
20* 


234  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

authority  of  Drs.  Holland,  liall,  Eiish,  and 
others,  that  enforce  the  "duty  of  health,"  such 
as 

Due  discrimination  and  self-control  in 
relation  to  our  food. 

That  we  abstain  from  whatever  is  found  to 
injure,  and  restrict  ourselves  rigidly  to  that 
sort  and  amount  of  aliment,  whether  animal  or 
vegetable,  which  is  most  conducive  to  our  gene- 
ral vigour  and  enjoyment,  and  which  best  com- 
ports with  an  active,  cheerful,  and  sound  mind 
in  a  sound  body.  Plutarch  says  that  his  coun- 
trymen, the  Boeotians,  were  remarkable  for 
their  stupidity  because  they  ate  too  much. 
They  were  good  trencher-men,  and  good  for 
nothing  else.  Let  these  and  preceding  hints 
on  diet  be  properly  heeded  by  the  religious 
man,  and  his  own  experience  will  prove  that 
his  spiritual  as  well  as  intellectual  enjoyment 
and  usefulness  are  closely  connected  both  with 
the  quality  and  quantity  of  his  daily  food,  and 
the  right  times  for  taking  it.  Eichard  Cum- 
berland says  in  his  Memoirs,  Nature  has  given 
me  the  hereditary  blessing  of  a  constitutional 


ON    REMtiloUS    EXPKHlKiNCE.  235 

and  habitual  temperance,  that  revolts  at  excess 
of  any  sort,  and  never  suffers  appetite  to  load 
the  frame.  I  am  accordingly  as  fit  to  resume 
my  book  or  my  pen  the  instant  after  my  meal, 
as  I  was  in  the  freshest  hours  of  the  morning. 

Give  both  mind  and  body  sufficient  rest, 
and  at  the  proper  season. 

Not  a  small  proportion  of  that  despondency 
which  is  so  incident  to  the  sedentary  class 
comes  from  excessive  study  at  unseasonable 
hours.  It  is  one  of  the  "diseases  of  litera- 
ture," to  which  good  men  are  as  liable  as 
others.  It  is  night  study.  Dr.  Johnson  says, 
that  ruins  the  constitution,  by  keeping  up  a 
bewildered  chaos  of  impressions  on  the  brain 
during  the  succeeding  sleep — if  that  can  be 
called  sleep  which  is  constantly  interrupted  by 
incoherent  dreams,  and  half-waking  trains  of 
thought.  Physiologists  have  proved  that  peri- 
odical rest  is  necessary  to  the  reproduction  of 
that  power  in  the  nerves  by  which  the  will  is 
enabled  to  act  on  the  muscles.  A  due  propor- 
tion of  repose,  therefore,  is  essential  to  the 
proper  manifestation  of  mind   in  the    orderly 


236  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

use  of  the  body.  We  have  known  many  re- 
markable cases  of  nervous  disorder  which  were 
connected  with  this  sort  of  imprudence.  Night 
watching,  or  late  sitting  up,  was  reprobated  in 
a  doctor's  Manual  for  the  Nervous,  written  two 
hundred  years  ago,  as  tending  to  "tire  and 
waste  the  animal  spirits,  by  keeping  them  too 
long  upon  duty,  debilitating  nature,  and  there- 
by shortening  the  period  of  usefulness,"  ac- 
cording to  the  maxim, 

Quod  c  xrct  altcrua  requle,  durable  non  est. 
What  would  endure,  must  have  alternate  rest. 

A  theological  student,  who  was  about  aban- 
doning his  studies  in  utter  discouragement 
from  declining  health,  was  induced  to  forego 
his  purpose  until  he  had  tried  what  could  be 
done  for  him  by  a  change  of  habits  as  to 
eating,  sleeping,  study,  and  rest.  The  new 
regimen  proved  so  beneficial,  that  without  tlie 
aid  of  drugs,  by  which  he  imagined  his  life 
had  been  sustained,  he  began  to  recover.  In  a 
short  time  his  mind  became  cheerful,  he  re- 
gained his  bodily  vigour,  and  resumed  his  stu- 


ON    RELICIIOUS    EXPERIENCE.  237 

(lies,  which  lie  afterwards  prosecuted  with  equal 
profit  and  pleasure.  It  was  the  Rev.  13r.  Mil- 
ler's counsel  not  to  study  much  by  night. 
Begin  with  the  dawn  of  day,  and  improve 
every  moment  of  daylight  that  you  can  secure; 
but  be  extremely  cautious  of  night  studies.  I 
have  known  them  to  injure  incurably  the  eyes 
and  the  general  health  of  many  unwary  stu- 
dents before  they  apprehended  the  least  danger. 
Study,  to  a  late  hour  at  night,  ought  never  to 
be  indulged  at  all  by  any  one  who  values  his 
health.  Two  hours  sleep  before  midnight  are 
worth  three,  if  not  four,  after  it;  and  he  who 
frequently  allows  himself  to  remain  at  his  stu- 
dies after  eleven  o'clock  in  the  evening,  is 
probably  laying  up  in  store  for  himself  bitter 
repentance.  A  late  writer  ascribes  the  excel- 
lent health  and  mental  vigour  of  M.  Guizot, 
while  Minister  of  France  under  Louis  Philippe, 
to  his  "prodigious  faculty  for  sleep."  After 
the  most  boisterous  and  tumultuous  sittings  at 
the  Chambers,  where  he  had  been  baited  by 
the  opposition  in  the  most  savage  manner,  he 
was   accustomed   to    go  home,    throw    himself 


238  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

upon  a  couch,  and  fall  immediately  into  a 
profound  sleep,  from  which  he  was  not  dis- 
turbed till  midnight,  when  proofs  of  the  Moni- 
teur  were  brought  to  him  for  inspection.  It 
is  well  known  that  Henry  Kirke  White,  Urqu- 
hart,  and  Henry  Martyn,  suffered  at  times  from 
extreme  depression  of  spirits,  caused  by  an 
overtaxing  of  their  mind,  which  occasioned  the 
premature  death  of  two,  and  probably  abridged 
the  life  of  the  third.  "My  discoveries,"  Henry 
Martyn  says,  "are  all  at  an  end,  and  I  am 
just  where  I  was,  in  perfect  darkness!" — a  fit- 
ting sequel  to  the  paragraph  in  his  diary  by 
which  it  is  preceded:  "I  scarcely  know  how 
this  week  has  passed;  I  remember,  however, 
that  one  night  I  did  not  sleep  a  wink.  One 
discovery  succeeded  another  so  rapidly  in  He- 
brew, Arabic,  and  Greek,  that  I  was  some- 
times almost  in  ecstasy."  What  effect  could 
be  linked  to  a  cause  more  closely  and  insepa- 
rably than  were  the  collapse  of  soul  he  speaks 
of,  with  his  habitual  imprudence  in  the  vio- 
lation of  well-known  physical  laws'? 

Many  suffer  great  depression  of  spirits  from 


ON    RELIGIOUS    EXPERIENCE.  239 

the  injurious  effects  of  narcotics,  especially 
in  the  form  of  tobacco.  The  name  of  minis- 
ters wlio  use  it,  to  the  prejudice  of  their 
liealth,  is  legion.  For  tliis,  and  other  reasons, 
some  ecclesiastical  bodies  have  made  it  a  sub- 
ject of  discipline.  Not  long  ago,  a  candidate 
for  the  ministry  at  the  AYest  was  refused  his 
license  on  account  of  his  declining  to  give  the 
habit  up.  Cowper  greatly  admired  the  lie  v. 
INIr.  Bull,  of  Newport-Pagnell,  for  his  genius, 
literature,  fine  taste,  and  lovely  temper — but, 
alas!  nothing  is. perfect,  he  writes  in  a  playful, 
but  half  serious  letter,  preserved  by  Haley, 
"the  Bull  smokes  tobacco."  In  the  famous 
"Counterblast  to  Tobacco"  of  King  James  the 
First,  the  custom  of  smoking  is  anathematized 
as  "loatlisome  to  the  eye,  hateful  to  the  nose, 
paineful  to  the  braine,  dangerous  to  the  lungs; 
and  in  the  black,  stinking  fume  thereof, 
nearest  resembling  the  horrible  Stygian  smoke 
of  the  pit  that  is  bottomless."  In  the  time 
of  Elizabeth,  an  edict  was  published  against 
its  use  for   fear   lest   England  should   become 


240  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

like  the  barbarians  from  whom   its    use    was 
derived. 

Anglorum    corpora   in   barbarorum    naturam    degenerasse,    quum 
iiJem  ac  barbari  delectentur. 

Dr.  Dunglison  told  the  writer,  that  of  the 
many  cases  of  functional  affections  of  the  heart 
that  he  had  seen,  particularly  among  young 
men,  a  large  proportion  appeared  to  be  owing 
to  an  immoderate  use  of  tobacco.  The  accom- 
plished author  of  "Letters  on  Clerical  Habits 
and  Manners,"  says  that  no  class  of  persons  are 
more  apt  to  fall  into  excess  in  the  use  of 
tobacco,  in  every  way,  than  students;  and  no 
class  of  students,  perhaps,  more  remarkably 
than  those  who  are  devoted  to  the  study  of 
theology.  Whether  their  sedentary  habits,  and 
especially  their  habits  of  stated  composition, 
form  the  peculiar  temptation  by  which  so  many 
of  them  are  unhappily  beguiled,  I  know  not; 
but  it  has  fallen  to  my  lot  to  know  a  very 
large  number  of  ministers,  young  and  old,  who 
by  excessive  smoking,  chewing,  or  snuffing, 
have  deranged   the    tone   of    their    stomachs; 


o.\  R:^r,i;iious  experiknce.  241 

have  undermined  their  liealtli;  have  seriously- 
injured  their  voices;  liavc  had  the  fumes  of 
tobacco  so  thoroughly  inwrought  in  their  per- 
sons and  clothing,  that  it  became  impossible 
for  many  delicate  people  to  sit  near  them  with 
impunity.  They  have  laid  themselves,  after  a 
wliile,  under  so  absolute  a  necessity  of  smoking 
or  chewing  incessantly,  that  they^  have  been 
obliged  to  withdraw  from  company,  or  from 
the  most  urgent  business,  and  even  to  break 
off  in  the  midst  of  a  meal,  and  retire  to  smoke, 
or  else  run  the  risk  of  a  severe  affection  of  the 
stomach.  In  vain  do  you  remind  such  people, 
when  they  are  young,  and  when  their  habits 
are  forming,  that  the  use  of  tobacco  is,  in  most 
cases,  unheal thful,  and  in  many  extremely  so; 
that  if  they  use  it  at  all,  they  are  in  danger 
of  being  betrayed  into  excess,  in  spite  of  every 
resolution  to  the  contrary.  They  will  not  be- 
lieve you;  they  are  in  no  danger;  others  may 
have  insensibly  fallen  into  excess,  and  become 
offensive,  but  they  never  will.  Onward  they 
go  with  inflexible  self-will,  as  an  ox  goeth  to 
the  slaughter;  resolving  to  follow  appetite  at 
21 


242  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH   AND    DISEASE 

all  hazards,  until  some  of  them  become  them- 
selves fearful  examples  of  the  evils  against 
which  they  were  warned!  The  truth  is,  no 
man — especially  no  young  man — ought  ever 
to  use  tobacco  in  any  shape,  who  can  possibly 
avoid  it;  that  is,  who  does  not  find  himself 
reduced  to  the  same  necessity  of  taking  it,  as 
a  medicine,  that  he  is  now  and  then  of  taking 
calomel;  in  which  case,  instead  of  allowing 
himself  to  contract  a  fondness  for  the  article, 
and  living  upon  it  daily,  a  wise  man  will  take 
it,  as  he  would  a  most  nauseous  medicine,  in 
as  small  quantities,  and  as  seldom  as  possible. 
If  the  most  servile  votary  of  the  segar,  the 
quid,  and  the  snuff-box,  could  take  even  a 
cursory  glance  at  the  ruined  health,  the  trem- 
bling nerves,  the  impaired  mental  faculties, 
the  miserable  tippling  habits,  the  disgraceful 
slavery,  and  the  revolting  fume,  to  which  they 
have  insensibly  conducted  many  an  unsuspect- 
ing devotee,  he  would  fly  with  horror  before 
even  the  possible  approaclies  of  danger. 

But   our  venerable  monitor   reprobates  the 
practice  as  not  less  a  trespass  against  our  neigh- 


ON    RELKUOUS    EXPERIENCE.  243 

bour  than  injurious  to  ourselves.  I  have  known, 
he  says,  some  persons  who  in  consequence  of 
their  habitually  chewing  tobacco,  or  some  other 
substance,  or  smoking,  were  under  a  necessity 
so  constant  and  pressing  of  discharging  saliva 
from  their  mouths,  that  they  were  really  a 
trouble  to  themselves,  as  well  as  to  everybody 
else.  I  have  certainly  known,  at  least,  one 
tobacco-chewing  clergyman,  of  wliom  a  re- 
spectable professor  of  religion  declared  that  he 
would  most  cheerfully  pay  his  board  for  a 
week  or  more  at  a  tavern,  or  at  any  other 
place,  rather  than  endure  his  company  at  a 
single  meal,  or  for  one  evening  in  his  own 
dwelling.  How  melancholy,  that  a  minister 
of  religion,  instead  of  being  a  pattern  of  neat- 
ness and  purity,  and  possessing  such  manners 
as  to  render  his  company  attractive  to  all 
classes  of  people,  should  allow  himself,  by  his 
personal  habits,  to  drive  all  cleanly  and  deli- 
cate persons  from  his  presence!  But  the  in- 
dulgence ceases  to  be  a  mere  offence  against 
taste,  when  we  contemplate  its  havoc  of  life. 
According  to  the  estimate  of  discerning  physi- 


244  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

cians,  not  less  than  twenty  thousand  die  in 
the  United  States  every  year  from  the  use  of 
tobacco.  In  Germany,  where  this  pernicious 
habit  is  far  more  common,  it  is  said  that  of 
all  tlie  deaths  between  the  ages  of  eighteen 
and  thirty-five,  one-half  originate  in  the  waste 
of  constitution  by  smoking.  But  in  unnum- 
bered cases  where  it  does  not  destroy  life,  it 
exhausts  and  deranges  the  nervous  powers,  and 
produces  some  of  the  most  distressing  and  un- 
manageable ailments.  M.  Bouisson,  a  French 
writer,  has  lately  published  some  startling  facts 
upon  the  danger  of  smoking.  He  states  that 
cancer  in  the  mouth  has  grown  so  frequent 
from  the  use  of  tobacco,  that  it  now  forms 
one  of  the  most  dreaded  diseases  in  the  hospi- 
tals. From  1845  to  1859  he  has  himself  per- 
formed sixty-eight  operations  for  cancers  in 
the  lips  in  the  Hospital  St.  Eloi.  The  use  of 
tobacco  rarely  produces  lip  cancer  in  youth. 
Almost  all  of  Bouisson's  patients  had  passed 
the  age  of  forty.  The  disease  is  also  more 
frequent  with  individuals  of  the  humbler  class, 
who  smoke  short  pipes,  and  tobacco  of  inferior 


ON    UKLKilOUS    EXPERIENCE.  245 

quality,  while  with  the  orientals  who  are  care- 
ful to  preserve  the  coolness  of  the  mouth-piece 
by  the  transmission  of  the  smoke  through 
water,  it  is  unknown ;  showing  that  it  is  gene- 
rated more  by  the  constant  application  of  heat 
to  the  lips,  than  by  the  inhaling  of  nicotine. 
It  is  a  common  cause  of  disease  in  the  sto- 
mach, and  especially  those  forms  tliat  go  under 
the  name  of  dyspepsia,  with  all  their  kindred 
train  of  evils.  It  also  exerts  a  disastrous  in- 
fluence upon  the  mind,  and  frequently  pro- 
duces an  enfeebling  of  the  memory,  a  confusion 
of  ideas,  irritability  of  temper,  want  of  energy, 
an  unsteadiness  of  purpose,  melancholy,  and 
sometimes  insanity.  These  are  the  ultimate 
effects  of  the  use  of  tobacco ;  and  though  one 
may  not  perceive  them  in  his  own  case,  we 
are  assured  that  the  tendency  of  the  drug  is 
always  toward  disease. 

INIuch  that  is  said  of  the   evils  of  tobacco 
may  be  repeated  of  alcoholic   drinks,  and  of 
stimulating   or    stupefying    drugs.     The  prac- 
tice of  many,  in  their  dejection  from  physical 
21* 


2-46  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

and  other  causes,  to  resort  to  opiates  for  re- 
lief, is  as  noxious  to  the  health  as  it  is 
immoral.  Both  Doctors  Good  and  Cullen  reject 
them  as  pernicious  in  cases  .  of  despondency. 
They  seem  to  heighten  the  pressure  of  our 
malady  only  to  let  it  hang  upon  us  after- 
ward more  heavily.  The  way  in  which  such 
agents  operate  injuriously,  is  "by  disturbing 
the  chemistry  of  life  to  such  a  degree  that 
the  nerve-matter  no  longer  duly  subserves  its 
purpose  as  a  medium  through  which  the  soul 
exercises  volition,  and  perceives  sensation." 
Dr.  Moore  says  that  narcotic  substances  seem 
to  operate  on  the  body  by  interfering  with 
the  affinity  existing  between  the  blood  and 
the  air,  allowing  the  accumulation  of  carbon, 
or  other  noxious  agents,  in  the  circulating 
fluid,  and  thus  arresting  the  action  of  the 
nervous  system.  On  this  principle,  every  kind 
of  intoxication  disturbs  the  voluntary  opera- 
tions of  the  mind  by  poisoning  the  brain, 
and  thence  impeding  the  influence  of  the  will 
upon  the  circulation,  by  preventing  its  control 


ON    UKLKilOli.S    KXriailENCE.  247 

over  the  nerves  of  sense  and  motion.  Another 
indispensable  auxiliary  to  hcaltli,  is 

Exercise  in  pure  air. 

The  tendency  of  the  depressing  passions  is 
to  render  us  inert,  taciturn,  averse  to  society, 
and  misanthropic.  The  languor  and  restless- 
ness that  usually  attend  this  disordered  state, 
make  us  unwilling  to  leave  our  retirement  for 
the  open  air,  or  for  the  bodily  efforts  whicli 
our  health  calls  for. 

Ignavia  corpus  hebetat,  labor  firmat. 

Indolence  makes  the  body  feeble,  labour  gives  its  strength. 

It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  in  so  limited 
a  treatise  as  this,  we  should  give  a  tithe  of 
the  excellent  instructions  or  counsels  which 
may  be  quoted  to  any  extent  from  standard 
authors,  in  regard  to  the  best  means  of  pre- 
serving health,  or  for  restoring  it  when  im- 
paired: what  they  say  of  diet,  drinks,  drugs, 
sleep,  employment,  bathing,  riding,  gymnastic 
exercises,  walking,  generous  living,  abstinence, 
&c.  We  merely  allude  to  so  copious  a  sub- 
ject in  this  general  way,  to  direct  the  reader's 


2-18  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND   DISEASE 

attention  to  what  the  wisest  of  them  have 
written,  rather  than  to  any  instructions  of  our 
own.  But  it  ought  to  be  specially  noticed 
by  the  seeker  after  health,  that  while  the 
disagreement  of  writers  on  the  broad  subject 
of  regimen  is  notorious,  they  are  in  perfect 
harmony  about  the  utility  of  exercise  properly 
taken,  and  of  wholesome  air.  One  of  their 
most  distinguished  authors  says,  if  we  would 
preserve  our  nerves  in  a  state  to  favour  mental 
exercise,  we  must  insure  our  access  to  pure 
air.  It  is  not  enough  to  be  guided  by  our 
senses  in  this  matter;  for  unless  we  are  sup- 
plied with  fresh  air  at  the  rate  of  at  least 
twenty  cubic  inches  for  every  breath  while 
tranquil,  and  twenty-five  while  in  action,  we 
shall  be  in  danger.  There  is  a  great  proba- 
bility that  the  temper  of  an  assembly  is  often 
vastly  influenced  by  the  state  of  the  air  which 
it  breathes,  and  to  talk  of  a  moral  atmosphere 
is  not  altogether  a  figure  of  speech.  It  is 
certain,  that  a  crowded  audience  is  usually 
most  excitable  at  the  commencement  of  a  ser- 
vice, and  the  most  attentive  towards  its  close; 


ON    RELKilOUS   EXPERIENCE.  249 

and  it  not  unfrcqiicntly  happens,  "  that  at  the 
end  of  a  Ions:  sermon  tlic  flushed  faces  and 
liazy  eyes  of  the  congregation  too  often  indi- 
cate that  bad  bk)od  is  adding  its  influence  to 
aggravate  the  mental  confusion  produced  by 
a  disorderly  discourse."  Dr.  Hall  says,  that 
"while  exercise  tends  to  abate  disease  under 
all  circumstances,  physicians  recommend  it  to 
be  taken  in  open  air,  in  order  to  produce  more 
immediate  effects.  The  reason  is,  because  a 
breath  of  air  taken  into  the  lungs,  perfectly 
light  and  pure,  comes  out  the  next  moment 
so  laden  with  the  impurity  which  it  took  from 
the  blood,  that  it  is  a  perfect  stench,  and  would 
destroy  life  if  breathed  again ;  but  coming  from 
the  body  warm  and  rarefied,  it  ascends  to  re- 
gions where  there  is  no  animal  life  for  it  to 
destroy,  to  return  to  the  lower  world  no  more 
until  it  has  been  restored  to  its  former  purity." 
No  persons  better  understand  the  value  of 
these  two  helpers  to  a  vigorous  use  of  both 
the  mental  and  bodily  faculties,  than  some  of 
our  most  successful  scholars.  In  "  Peter's  Let- 
ters to  his  Kinsfolk,"  he  gi\es  us  an  amusing 


250  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND   DISEASE 

account  of  the  boyish  gymnastics  of  certain 
illustrious  Scotchmen  in  the  early  part  of  the 
present  century,  who  were  wont  to  recruit  their 
minds,  after  severe  study,  by  relaxing  in  the 
athletic  sports  of  youth,  according  to  the  advice 
of  Horace  to  his  friend  Virgil, 

Misce  stultitiam  coiisiliis  brevera. 
Dulce  est  desipere  in  loco. 

Mix  a  short  folly  with  thy  laboured  schemes, 
'Tis  joyous  folly  that  unbends  the  mind. — Francis. 

The  men  that  "Peter"  speaks  of,  were  most 
of  them  already  beyond  the  meridian  of  life. 
"I  was  not  a  little  astonished,"  he  says,  "when 
somebody  proposed  a  trial  of  strength  in  leap- 
ing. Nor  was  my  astonishment  at  all  dimi- 
nished when  Mr.  Playfair  began  to  throw  off 
his  coat  and  waistcoat,  and  to  prepare  himself 
for  taking  his  part  in  the  contest;  and,  indeed, 
the  whole  party  did  the  same,  except  Jeffrey 
alone,  who  was  dressed  in  a  short  green  jacket, 
with  scarcely  any  skirts,  and  therefore  seemed 
to  consider  himself  as  already  sufficiently  "ac- 
cinctus  ludo."  I  used  to  be  a  good  leaper  in 
my  day,  but  I  cut  a  very  poor  figure  among 


ON   RELiaiOUS   EXPERIENCE.  251 

these  sinewy  Caledonians.  AVitli  the  excep- 
tion of  Leslie,  they  all  jumped  wonderfully; 
and  Jeffrey  was  quite  miraculous,  considering 
his  brevity  of  stride.  But  the  greatest  wonder 
of  the  whole  was  Mr.  Playfair.  lie  also  is  a 
short  man,  and  cannot  be  less  than  seventy, 
yet  he  took  his  stand  with  the  assurance  of  an 
athletic,  and  positively  beat  every  one  of  us. 
I  was  quite  thunderstruck,  never  having  heard 
the  least  hint  of  his  being  so  great  a  geome- 
trician in  this  sense  of  the  word."  We  will 
only  add  to  these  suggestions  with  regard  to 
exercise  of  mind  and  body,  the  counsel  of  one 
restored  from  prolonged  melancholy,  and  who 
recites  the  teachings  of  his  own  experience. 
"  Seek  some  suitable  employment  for  exercise, 
and  at  the  same  time  for  diverting  your 
thoughts  from  your  trouble.  Neglect,  refuse, 
or  reject  this,  and  you  have  no  ground  of 
hope.  If  you  are  not  confined  to  your  bed, 
or  if  you  can  barely  rise  off  it  and  walk,  and 
this  only  at  times,  you  should  think  of  some 
useful,  proper,  and,  if  possible,  profitable  em- 
ployment, at  which  you  might   do  at  least  a 


252  INFLUENCE    OP    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

little.  In  vain  will  you  tliink  and  say,  tliat 
you  are  too  weak;  all  experience  loudly  ex- 
claims— take  exercise!  take  exercise! — if  you 
can  but  walk  or  creep  a  little;  and  this  espe- 
cially to  patients  of  your  order.  It  is  true 
that  you  do  at  times  become  very  weak,  but 
if  you  have  no  local  disorder,  or  whether  or 
not  your  weakness  is  of  a  peculiar  kind;  it 
will  both  come  on  and  go  off  quicker  than 
the  weakness  of  patients  labouring  under  other 
diseases." 

While  arranging  our  thoughts  on  the  sub- 
ject of  this  volume,  we  met  with  the  following 
remarks  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  N.  L.  llice.  They 
contain  so  many  excellent  counsels,  reaffirming 
our  own,  that  we  are  constrained  to  transfer 
them  to  our  pages  without  change  or  abridg- 
ment. He  is  writing  with  special  reference  to 
his  clerical  brethren  in  their  state  of  mental 
depression;  but  his  suggestions  are  scarcely 
less  adapted  to  the  case  of  desponding  Chris- 
tians in  general: 

"There  are  some  ministers  and  Christians 
who  can  say,  as  Dr.  Daniel  Baker  said,  '  I  am 


ON  ui;t,1(iious  KXPtniKxrK.  253 

always  happy;'  but  tlicrc  arc  many  others 
who  have  seasons  of  depression  of  shorter  or 
longer  continuance,  and  of  greater  or  less  in- 
tensity. They  are  sometimes  caused  by  some 
slight  bodily  indisposition,  affecting  the  ner- 
vous system;  sometimes  by  nervous  exhaustion 
from  loss  of  sleep  or  too  long  continued  mental 
exertion;  sometimes  by  disappointed  hopes; 
and  often  by  erroneous  views  as  to  prospects 
of  usefulness,  &c.  They  seem  to  be  of  the 
nature  of  melancholy,  only  they  do  not  so 
generally  create  doubts  of  one's  piety;  and  the 
causes  being  slight  or  transient,  the  mind  soon 
recovers  its  cheerfulness.  But  whatever  cause 
or  causes  produce  these  depressions,  they  are 
not  only  very  distressing,  but  for  the  time 
being  they  unfit  the  mind  for  the  discharge  of 
any  duty.  We  cannot  read,  for  the  mind 
takes  no  interest  in  any  book,  and  wanders 
from  wliat  we  are  reading  to  its  own  gloomy 
imaginings.  We  cannot  prepare  a  sermon, 
for  the  mind  will  not  take  hold  of  any  subject. 
AVe  feel,  as  we  wander  from  text  to  text,  that 
there  is  not  a  text  in  tlie  l^>iblr'  on  wliirh  we 
22 


254  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH    AND   DISEASE 

could  preach.  We  lose  hours  in  the  vain  effort 
to  choose  a  text,  and  then  utterly  fail  to  satisfy 
ourselves.  We  feel  disinclined  to  visit;  we  do 
not  wish  to  converse  with  any  one,  unless  we 
can  talk  gloomily  to  some  bosom  friend.  The 
pastor  feels  as  if  his  usefulness  were  at  an  end 
in  his  present  field,  and  half  resolves  to  resign 
his  pastoral  charge.  To  those  who  are  trou- 
bled with  such  depressions,  as  ive  have  often 
been,  we  venture  a  few  suggestions: 

1.  If  it  can  be  avoided,  it  is  better  not 
to  attempt  any  mental  labour  whilst  the  de- 
pression continues.  Whatever  may  be  the 
cause'  the  fact  is — the  nervous  system  is  oict 
of  tune.  There  is  exhaustion  and  an  irritable 
condition;  and  any  attempt  to  force  the  mind 
to  work  will  increase  the  difficulty;  and  the 
work,  whilst  doubly  difficult,  will  not  be  as 
well  done.  Walk  or  ride  out;  breathe  the 
fresh  air,  and  converse  with  Nature.  Vigorous 
muscular  exercise,  especially  if  at  the  same 
time  the  mind  is  amused,  will  often  allay 
nervous  irritation  and  depression.  Or  if  there 
is  general  prostration  of  the  system,  and  a  feel- 


ON    RELHilOUS   EXrERIENCE.  255 

ing  of  weariness,  take  half  an  liour's  sleep; 
and  yon  will  be  snrpriscd  at  the  virtue  that 
is  in  '  tired  nature's  sweet  restorer,  balmy 
sleep.'  Then  a  cup  of  good  coffee  will  often 
make  one  feel  like  a  new  man.  Often,  when 
worn  out  with  continuous  preaching,  we  have 
found  surprising  relief  from  this  source.  All 
might  not  find  the  same  benefit  from  it. 

2.  If  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  preach 
under  such  depressions,  two  suggestions  will  be 
found  important,  viz.  1.  Select  a  subject  which 
demands,  at  the  outset,  inteUectiial  effort.  De- 
pressions, such  as  we  are  considering,  interfere 
fixr  more  with  the  emotions  than  with  the  in" 
tellectiial  perceptions;  and  if  the  intellect  can 
get  fairly  to  work  in  the  efi'ort  to  prove  some 
proposition,  or  to  explain  some  point  of  doc- 
trine or  duty,  the  emotions  will  gradually  rise 
in  the  progress  of  the  discussion,  and  the  pain- 
ful depression  will  entirely  disappear.  2.  Com- 
mence the  discourse  with  the  explanation  of  a 
word,  or  the  statement  of  a  fact  or  principle, 
and  let  the  mind  pass  without  special  efi'ort 
from  thought  to  thought,  and  it  will,  in  a  few 


256  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

minutes,  work  botli  vigorously  and  pleasantly. 
To  select  a  subject  which,  from  the  beginning, 
appeals  to  the  emotions,  or  is  hortatory,  or  to 
commence  at  a  point  above  one's  own  state  of 
feeling,  are  both  unsafe;  for  in  either  case  the 
mind,  instead  of  rising,  sinks  into  deeper  de- 
pression, and  the  preacher  retires  from  the 
pulpit  with  the  distressing  feeling  that  he  has 
made  a  failure. 

3.  It  is  unsafe  to  come  to  any  new  con- 
clusions, or  materially  to  change  one's  plans, 
whilst  labouring  under  such  depressions.  At 
such  times  nothing  appears  in  its  true  light. 
We  are  likely  to  err  in  regard  to  the  state 
of  feeling  in  our  congregations ;  and  difficul- 
ties, which  at  other  times  would  produce  no 
discouragement,  appear  insurmountable.  In 
our  own  experience,  once  and  again,  an  hour's 
sleep,  a  ride  to  the  country,  or  a  good  cup 
of  coffee,  has  removed  mountains  of  difficulty, 
and  driven  away  dark  clouds  that  seemed  to 
threaten  ruin  to  all  our  plans  of  usefulness. 
The  forming  of  in^portant  plans,  which  are  to 
give  direction  to  our   labours    for   life,   or   at 


ON    RELIGIOUS    EXPERIENCE.  257 

least  for  years,  requires  a  clear  intellect  and  a 
manly  vigour.  It  is  often  difficult,  thougli  it 
is  most  important,  to  avoid  talking  and  acting 
unwisely  in  these  fits  of  despondency. 

4.  There  is  little  use  in  attempting  to 
reason  persons  out  of  these  gloomy  moods. 
The  effort  to  reason  away  a  headache  would 
be  about  as  successful.  The  trouble  is  phi/si- 
caJ;  the  body  is  affecting  the  animal  spirits, 
and  thus  obscuring  the  views  and  paralyzing 
the  energies  of  the  mind.  It  is  generally  even 
more  unwise  to  ridicule  the  unreasonable  con- 
ceits of  persons  who  are  low-spirited.  Des- 
pondency is  something  strangely  contradictory. 
It  is  very  distressing;  yet  the  mind  nurses  it 
as  though  it  were  a  most  delicious  feeling. 
Ridicule  appears  unfeeling  and  cruel,  and  only 
fixes  the  mind  more  firmly  in  its  gloomy  state. 
If  it  can  be  diverted  to  some  agreeable  subject, 
the  advantage  will  be  very  great;  and  a  hearty 
laugh  sometimes  drives  away  all  the  demons 
of  melancholy. 

Some  years  ago,  a  minister   from  Virginia 
was   lying   sick   at   our   house  in  Cincinnati. 
22* 


258  INFLUENCE    OF    UEALTII    AND    DISEASE 

He  had  nearly  recovered;  but,  as  it  often  hap- 
pens, he  had  become  very  desponding,  and 
seriously  concluded  that  he  should  not  live  to 
reach  home.  Just  while  he  was  talking  thus 
gloomily,  our  family  physician  came  in.  Dis- 
covering the  desponding  state  of  the  invalid, 
he  gradually  turned  the  conversation  into  a 
more  pleasant  channel ;  and  in  half  an  hour 
he  had  the  sick  preacher  laughing  heartily. 
When  the  doctor  left,  he  dressed  himself,  and 
walked  about  the  house;  and  on  the  next  day 
went  on  his  journey. 

Others,  as  well  as  ministers  of  the  gospel, 
are  afflicted  with  what  is  jestingly  called  the 
hlues;  and  the  suggestions  already  made  may 
be  of  some  advantage  to  them.  A  little  timely 
rest  and  diversion  will  throw  sunshine  over 
the  affairs  of  a  man,  which  in  hours  of  gloom 
seem  desperate;  and  the  Christian  who  is  just 
ready  to  give  up  his  class  in  the  Sabbath- 
school,  will  resume  his  labours  with  cheerful- 
ness." 

In  the  fourth  chapter  of  Dr.  Alexander's 
"Thoughts  on  E-eligious  Experience,"  will  be 


ON  lun.uiioi.s  KxriuuKNcE.  259 

found,  among  many  wise  comisels  to  persons 
subject  to  spiritual  depression,  some  very  strik- 
ing examples,  interspersed  with  judicious  re- 
marks. The  importance  of  special  watchfulness 
and  prayer  against  the  invasion  of  melanclioly 
in  the  decline  of  life,  especially  when  the 
tendency  is  constitutional,  may  be  inferred 
from  the  cases  of  two  persons  who  were  over- 
whelmed with  this  malady  at  last,  though  as 
far  from  it  in  early  life  as  any  that  the  writer 
ever  knew. 

The  first  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  tal- 
ents, and  eloquence;  bold  and  decisive  in  his 
temper,  and  fond  of  company  and  good  cheer. 
When  about  fifty-five  or  six  years  of  age, 
without  any  external  cause  to  produce  the 
effect,  his  spirits  began  to  sink,  and  feelings 
of  melancholy  to  seize  upon  him.  He  avoided 
company,  but  I  had  frequent  occasion  to  see 
him,  and  sometimes  he  could  be  engaged  in 
conversation,  when  he  could  speak  as  judi- 
ciously as  before;  but  he  soon  reverted  to  his 
dark  melancholy  mood.  On  one  occasion  he 
mentioned  his  case  to  me,  and  observed  with 


2G0  INFLUENCE   OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

emphasis,  that  he  had  no  power  whatever  to 
resist  the  disease,  and  said  he,  with  despair  in 
his  comitenance,  'I  shall  soon  be  utterly  over- 
whelmed.' And  so  it  turned  out,  for  the  dis- 
ease advanced  until  it  ended  in  the  worst  form 
of  mania^  and  soon  terminated  his  life.  The 
other  was  the  case  of  a  gentleman  who  had 
held  office  in  the  American  army  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary war.  About  the  same  age,  or  a  little 
later,  he  lost  his  cheerfulness,  which  had  never 
been  interrupted  before,  and  by  degrees,  sunk 
into  a  most  deplorable  state  of  melancholy, 
which  as  in  the  former  case,  soon  ended  in 
death.  In  this  case,  the  first  thing  which  I 
noticed,  was  a  morbid  sensibility  of  the  moral 
sense,  which  filled  him  with  remorse,  for  acts 
which  had  little  or  no  moral  turpitude  attached 
to  them.     Let  the  depressed  and  desponding 

Look  habitually  to  Christ. 

A  counsel,  the  most  important,  as  it  is  the 
most  comprehensive  of  all  that  have  been 
offered.  Look  to  Ilim  continually  for  his  as- 
cension gift,  the  Comforter,  to  purify  from  sin, 
to  help  in  overcoming  the  world,  the  flesh,  and 


ON    RKLKilUUS    KM'KIUKNCK.  201 

the  (h'cil.  Without  vie  ye  can  do  nothiitf)^  says 
the  Saviour ;  and  through  Christ  streugtheniug 
7ne,  says  his  great  apostle,  I  can  do  all  things. 
"  Look  forward  to  Jesus  Christ,"  is  the  counsel 
of  Mr.  Rogers,  "  when  you  find  things  per- 
plexed and  troubled  in  your  own  souls;  look 
to  Him,  and  in  the  direct  acts  of  faith,  we 
have  nobler  objects  to  converse  withal  than 
when  we  look  and  pore  upon  our  guilty  selves. 
When  we  look  into  our  troubled  hearts,  we 
can  see  nothing  beside  confusion  and  disorder 
there;  but  we  may  at  the  same  time  discern 
an  all-sufficient  fulness  in  God  and  Christ  to 
relieve  our  wants.  It  is  a  long  and  tedious 
work  to  consider  the  several  steps  by  which 
we  are  to  proceed  in  such  a  case,  whether  we 
have  believed  or  not ;  our  duty  is  at  this  very 
instant  to  believe — i.  e.,  under  a  penitent  sense 
of  what  we  have  done  amiss,  to  look  unto 
Christ  for  help.  We  must  carefully  distin- 
guish between  justification  and  sanctification ; 
between  those  habits  and  those  holy  actions 
that  are  the  effects  of  faith,  and  faith  itself 
Our  sanctification  is  full  of  imperfection;  but 


262  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH   AND    DISEASE 

that  righteousness  of  Christ,  wherein  alone  we 
are  to  trust  for  acceptance  with  God,  is  com- 
plete and  perfect."  Dr.  Church,  President  of 
the  Medical  Society  of  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylva- 
nia, mentions  numerous  facts  to  illustrate  the 
efficacy  of  faith  in  Christ  in  the  prevention 
and  cure  of  diseases  of  body  as  well  as  mind. 
As  health  is  the  result  of  nicely-balanced  appe- 
tites and  passions,  so  of  course  anything  that 
exerts  a  regulating  or  controlling  influence 
over  these  in  such  a  manner  as  to  attune  them 
into  harmony,  will  essentially  aid  us  in  fore- 
stalling diseases,  as  well  as  in  curing  them. 
Such  a  power  as  Dr.  Church  ascribes  to  evan- 
gelical faith,  would  seem  to  be  implied  in  the 
language  of  Dr.  Bell,  who  says  that  "so  inti- 
mate is  the  connection  between  physical  com- 
fort and  moral  well-being,  that  the  one  cannot 
be  seriously  affected  without  the  other  suffer- 
ing." Mr.  Shrubsole  tells  us  in  his  Christian 
Memoirs,  that  he  was  once  reduced  so  low  that 
his  case  was  apparently  hopeless.  For  hours 
he  was  lying  in  convulsions,  and  during  this 
time  he  was  in  a  state  of  great  spiritual  dark- 


ON    RELIGIOUS   EXrERIENCE.  203 

ncss  and  distress  of  mind.  But  so  soon  as  the 
light  of  divine  truth  broke  in  upon  him,  and 
he  experienced  the  support  of  true  faith,  his 
convulsions  left  him,  and  he  rapidly  recovered. 
Ur.  Church  mentions  the  case  of  several  sick 
persons  of  advanced  age,  who  would  probably 
have  died  under  the  power  of  these  attacks, 
but  for  the  perfect  composure  of  mind  and 
freedom  from  fear  that  were  ministered  by 
their  faith.  In  view  of  the  many  facts  con- 
cerning the  remedial  influence  of  faith  alle- 
ged by  other  physicians  of  equal  eminence, 
Dr.  Ashbel  Green  takes  occasion  to  combat 
what  he  calls  a  "serious  evil."  lie  refers  to 
the  "  absurd,  cruel,  and  wicked  opinion,"  enter- 
tained by  many  physicians,  and  embraced  by 
many  of  their  patients,  that  a  clergyman  must 
be  kept  out  of  a  sick-room — at  least  till  the 
person  is  past  recovery;  an  opinion  which  he 
avers  was  proved  fallacious  by  his  own  experi- 
ence in  the  pastoral  charge  of  one  of  the  largest 
congregations  in  tlie  United  States  for  more 
than  the  fourth  part  of  a  century,  during  wliicli 
time  he  never  knew  an  instance  in  which  his 


264  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

ministerial  visitations  of  the  sick  were  appre- 
hended, so  far  as  he  knew,  to  be  injurious. 
What  excuse  then  can  be  given,  he  asks,  for 
depriving  the  sick  of  religious  aid,  when  facts 
innumerable  demonstrate  that  it  may  be  afford- 
ed, not  merely  without  harm,  but  often  with 
evident  advantage  in  helping  the  physician. 
The  same  sentiments  on  this  important  subject 
were  entertained  by  his  friend,  Dr.  Rush,  who 
enumerates  among  the  duties  of  a  physician, 
"  piety  towards  God,  a  respect  for  religion,  and 
regular  attendance  on  public  worship."  With- 
out such  moral  endowments,  he  will  meet 
with  many  cases  of  disease  which  lie  wants 
the  requisite  qualifications  to  treat.  The  suf- 
ferers need  a  medical  counsellor  who  can  point 
them  to  the  halm  of  Gilead,  and  the  Physician 
there.  They  must  be  directed  beyond  the 
remedy  of  secondary  or  merely  physical  causes 
to  Him  who  can  make  them  efficacious.  And 
to  mention  all  the  cures  that  have  been  per- 
formed by  faith  and  hope,  he  says,  "would 
require  many  pages."  But  while  the  despond- 
ing look  to  Christ,  and  pray  for    themselves, 


ON    RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE-.  2G5 

let  them  seek  an  interest  in  the  prayers  of 
others.  It  is  believed  that  the  restoration  of 
the  Ilev.  Mr.  Rogers,  several  times  referred  to 
in  the  preceding  pages,  was  in  answer  to  the 
special  prayers  of  his  pious  friends  and  breth- 
ren in  the  ministry,  many  of  whom  were  most 
earnest  and  importunate  in  their  intercessions, 
till  at  length  his  mind  was  completely  relieved. 
He  has  left  a  monument  of  this  deliverance 
from  his  dreadful  thraldom  in  a  book  well 
worthy  of  the  perusal  of  those  who  suffer  under 
spiritual  distress  from  physical  or  any  other 
causes.  But  the  prevailing  temptation  of 
Christians  of  this  temperament,  as  we  have 
shown  in  another  place,  is  to  look  to  them- 
selves, to  watch  their  own  fluctuating  frames, 
canvass  their  motives  and  conduct,  as  if  tliey 
expected  to  find  the  living  among  the  dead. 
As  if  the  Israelite  in  the  wilderness,  bitten  of 
the  fiery  serpent,  had  depended  for  his  reco- 
very upon  his  former  temperance,  or  the 
strength  of  his  constitution,  and  not  upon 
looking  to  the  brazen  image.  Such  reviews 
of  the  past  and  searchings  of  heart,  are  not 
23 


266  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND   DISEASE 

only  proper,  but  they  are  exceedingly  impor- 
tant in  many  respects,  but  not  for  spiritual 
comfort  in  distress,  nor  for  aid  to  arrive  at 
assurance.  To  look  back,  as  one  observes,  is 
more  than  we  can  sustain  without  going  back. 
Indeed  the  better  the  Christian,  the  more 
spiritually  minded  and  holy,  the  more  does  he 
usually  discover  to  cause  sorrow,  and  the  keen- 
est self-reproach,  whenever  he  takes  a  retros- 
pect of  his  past  life  and  experience.  For  many 
years,  we  are  told,  that  even  Baxter  was  in 
great  perplexity  about  himself,  for  reasons 
which  have  been  a  common  occasion  of  doubt- 
ing among  serious  inquirers  in  every  age  of 
the  church:  it  was  because  he  could  not  trace 
so  distinctly  the  workings  of  the  Spirit  on  his 
heart,  as  they  were  described  in  some  practical 
writers,  to  whom  he  was  directed  for  instruc- 
tion, and  he  could  not  ascertain  the  time  of  his 
conversion.  Because  he  felt  great  hardness  of 
heart;  supposed  himself  to  be  religious  from 
early  education  rather  than  conviction  of  the 
Spirit ;  to  be  influenced  more  by  fear  than 
by  love ;  and  because  his  grief  and  humiliation 


ON    RKLKiloUS    EXl'EUIENCE.  207 

on  account  of  sin  were  not  greater.  But  lie 
was  afterwards  satisfied,  that  these  were  not 
sufficient  nor  scriptural  grounds  for  doubting 
his  personal  interest  in  the  salvation  of  Christ. 
Upon  which,  Orme,  his  accomplished  biogra- 
pher, remarks,  that  persons  who  arc  agitated 
with  perplexities  similar  to  those  of  Baxter, 
are  frequently  directed  to  means  little  calcu- 
lated to  afford  relief.  It  is  very  questionable 
whether  any  individual  will  ever  obtain  com- 
fort by  making  himself,  or  the  evidences  of 
personal  religion,  the  object  of  chief  attention. 
All  hope  to  the  guilty  creature  is  exterior  to 
himself.  In  the  human  character,  even  under 
Christian  influence,  sufficient  reason  for  con- 
demnation, and  therefore  for  fear,  will  always 
be  found.  It  is  not  thinking  of  the  disease, 
nor  of  the  mode  in  which  the  remedy  operates, 
nor  of  the  description  given  of  these  things 
by  others,  but  using  the  remedy  itself  that  will 
effect  the  cure.  The  gospel  is  the  heavenly 
appointed  balsam  for  all  the  wounds  of  sin, 
and  Jesus  is  the  great  Physician ;  it  is  to  him, 
and  to  his  testimony,  therefore,  as  the  revela- 


268  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND   DISEASE 

tion  of  pardon  and  healing,  that  the  soul  must 
be  directed  in  all  the  stages  of  its  spiritual 
career.  When  the  glory  of  his  character  and 
work  is  seen,  darkness  of  mind  will  be  dissi- 
pated, the  power  of  sin  will  be  broken,  genuine 
contrition  will  be  felt,  and  joy  and  hope  will 
fill  the  mind.  It  is  from  the  Saviour  and  his 
sacrifice  that  all  proper  excitement  in  religion 
must  proceed;  and  the  attempt  to  produce  that 
excitement  by  the  workings  of  the  mind  on 
itself,  must  inevitably  fail.  Self-examination 
to  discover  the  power  of  truth  and  the  pro- 
gress of  principle  in  us,  is  highly  important; 
but  when  employed  with  a  view  to  obtain  com- 
fort under  a  sense  of  guilt,  it  never  can  suc- 
ceed. Nothing  but  renewed  application  to  the 
cross  can  produce  the  latter  efiect. 

These  sentiments  are  so  important  that  they 
cannot  be  repeated  too  often,  nor  be  too  deeply 
impressed  upon  all,  and  especially  upon  every 
inquirer  after  an  assurance  of  hope.  They  de- 
scribe the  only  way  by  which  the  perplexed 
believer,  even  when  released  from  the  embar- 
rassment of  physical  influences,  can  obtain  a 


ON    UELKilOL'S    EXI'KIUENCE.  2()l) 

solid  and  permanent  peace.  It  is  by  looking 
to  Christ,  not  as  holy  in  ourselves,  but  in  order 
to  be  made  holy;  not  as  the  whole,  whoso 
distempers  have  been  cured  already,  but  as  the 
sick,  who  must  be  cured  by  him  alone,  or 
perish.  We  must  go  to  him,  feeling  that  wc 
owe  him  ten  thousand  times  more  than  we  can 
pay;  but  that  all  he  requires  of  us  is  to  accept 
a  discharge,  and  be  happy  in  the  enjoyment  of 
this  unmerited  grace.  In  other  words,  we  are 
only  to  exalt  our  glorious  Redeemer  to  his 
true  position  as  both  the  author  and  finisher 
of  our  faith,  the  alpha  and  omega  in  our  sal- 
vation, and  our  peace  is  secured.  Those  very 
views  of  ourselves,  our  self-reproach  and  feel- 
ing of  ill-desert,  which  have  caused  so  much 
disquiet,  then  become  the  evidences  of  that 
spiritual  change  which  is  the  beginning  of 
everlasting  life.  It  is  as  easy  for  God  to  for- 
give a  thousand  sins  as  one  sin.  If  we  be 
never  so  unworthy  and  so  vile,  yet  mercy  seeks 
no  other  qualification  of  its  object  but  that  it 
is  necessitous,  and  liable  to  ruin;  and  it  is  a 
good  way  to  fly  to  his  mere  grace  and  mercy, 
23* 


270  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

for  we  have  undone  ourselves.  Poring  upon 
ourselves  does  but  increase  our  load.  We  are 
apt  to  say  in  our  distress,  "AVere  we  so  and 
so  mortified  to  the  world — were  our  hearts  so 
purified  and  cleansed,  then  we  might  approach 
him  with  some  boldness,  who  is  altogether  holy." 
This  is  true,  but  yet  we  must  first  ask  of 
him  to  make  us  such,  in  whom  he  may  delight. 
And  as  we  sorrowfully  cast  our  eyes  upon  our 
wounds  and  our  miseries,  let  us  look  at  the 
same  time  to  that  Physician  who  has  provided 
a  remedy  for  us  by  Christ,  and  who  can  heal 
all  our  backslidings,  and  teach  us  to  apply  that 
remedy.  If  we  are  the  worst  and  most  sinful 
creatures  upon  earth,  yet  is  a  Saviour  tendered 
to  our  acceptance  and  our  choice;  and  if  we 
will  receive  him,  all  our  transgressions,  how 
heinous  soever,  will  be  blotted  out.  We  re- 
peat, then,  the  monition,  in  the  midst  of  dis- 
tracting cares  and  temptations,  which  so  much 
hinder  the  exercise  of  this  faith,  let  us  not 
forget  the  promised  help  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Let  us  watch  against  the  common  sin  of  the 
desponding,  who  undervalue  his  aid,  and  prac- 


ON    RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  271 

tically  question  its  reality,  when  we  arc  tanglit, 
not  only  that  he  helpcth  our  infirmities^  but  that 
he  maketh  intercession  for  us  %L'ith  groanings 
which  cannot  he  uttered. 

To  know  that  we  are  Christians  docs  not 
imply  that  we  are  free  from  sin,  but  that  wc 
are  united  to  Christ.  Our  peace,  and  joy,  and 
hope,  the  fruits  of  this  union,  need  not  be  de- 
stroyed by  our  imperfections,  however  great, 
while  we  cling  to  Him  as  our  righteousness. 
"If  we  see  ourselves  bad  enough  for  Christ," 
Thomas  Adam  says,  "he  sees  us  good  enough." 
His  people  are  safe,  notwithstanding  their 
doubts  and  fears,  not  because  of  any  inherent 
power  in  them  to  hold  on  to  the  end,  but  be- 
cause of  the  grace  which  reigns  in  their  calling 
and  redemption,  in  view  of  which  he  has  said, 
he  will  never  leave  them  nor  forsake  them. 

The  soul  on  his  bosom  that  leans  for  repose, 
Is  safe  from  the  assaults  of  its  bitterest  foes ; 
That  soul,  tho'  all  hell  should  its  vengeance  awake, 
He'll  never,  no  never,  no  never  forsake. 

It  is  certainly  among  the  deep  mysteries  of 
Providence,  that   some    of  the   most   eminent 


272  INFLUENCE   OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

saints  who  have  ever  lived,  should  have  been 
afflicted  with  despondency  and  gloom ;  and  yet, 
as  pious  Rutherford  remarks,  "as  nights  and 
shadows  are  good  for  flowers,  and  moonlight 
and  dews  better  than  a  continued  sun,  so  is 
Christ's  absence  of  special  use,  and  it  hath 
some  nourishing  virtue  in  it,  and  giveth  sap 
to  humility,  and  furnisheth  a  fair  field  for 
faith."  But  is  there  no  difficulty,  it  may  be 
asked,  connected  with  the  abandonment  of  a 
pious  man  to  such  a  state  of  mental  darkness 
and  suffering,  especially  when  protracted  to  the 
hour  of  death?  No  greater  difficulty,  we  con- 
ceive, when  viewed  as  the  result  of  phj^sical 
disease,  than  in  a  good  man's  being  suffered 
to  linger  under  a  torturing  complaint,  or  to 
be  laid  aside  by  paralysis,  or  to  be  the  victim 
of  brutal  violence,  of  persecution,  or  of  fatal 
accident.  We  know  of  no  promise  that  insures 
a  truly  religious  man  against  such  a  trial, 
although  we  believe  the  physical  influence  of 
true  religion  to  be  the  very  best  preservative 
against  those  exciting  causes  which  are  likely 
to  develop  a  predisposition  to  mental  disease. 


ON   RELIGIOUS   EXRERIENCE.  273 

The  history  of  Job  is  written  to  caution  us 
against  falling  into  the  error  of  his  friends  in 
"so  judging  by  feeble  sense."  It  is  true  that 
he  emerged  from  his  complicated  and  unparal- 
leled afflictions;  but  in  the  cases  of  diseases 
incurable,  except  by  miracle,  what  reason  is 
there  to  expect  an  extraordinary  interposition 
of  divine  power,  in  anticipation  of  the  blessed 
cure  which  death  will  effect  when  the  spirit 
"bursts  its  chains  with  sweet  surprise'?"  If 
Cowper  was  permitted  to  expire  in  apparent 
mental  darkness,  let  it  not  be  regarded  as 
cither  militating  against  the  divine  goodness, 
nor  as  indicating  the  divine  displeasure  against 
the  sufferer,  should  any  one  under  similar  cir- 
cumstances be  allowed  to  close  his  days  under 
the  pressure  of  distemper,  and  to  give  no  sign 
in  death. 

It  has  been  suggested,  by  way  of  explana- 
tion, that  these  sufferings  of  good  men  are 
designed  to  enhance  the  joys  of  heaven  by 
contrast;  that  these  light  afflictions,  which  are 
but  for  a  moment,  will  tend  to  work  for  us  a 
far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  leeight  of  glory. 


274  INFLUENCE    OF    HEALTH    AND   DISEASE 

In  many  cases,  moreover,  they  are  made  instru- 
mental in  furnishing  religious  teachers  with  a 
sort  of  knowledge  that  conduces  greatly  to 
their  usefulness,  and  which  can  be  acquired 
only  by  experience.  The  apostle  represents 
our  High  Priest  as  one  who  could  be  touched 
icith  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities,  because  he  was 
in  all  points  tempted  as  we  are.  Such,  accord- 
ing to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hall,  was  the  discipline 
which  gave  so  much  "  sympathy,  tenderness, 
and  heart-reaching  power  to  the  discourses, 
conversation,  and  whole  intercourse"  of  the 
late  Dr.  J.  W.  Alexander.  To  qualify  him  for 
this  service,  "the  wise  and  gracious  foresight 
of  Almighty  God  saw  it  necessary  to  lead  his 
disciple,  from  his  earliest  Christian  walk,  in 
the  path  of  some  of  the  most  poignant  and 
overwhelming  distresses  that  can  oppress  the 
human  soul.  Ascribe  it  to  what  immediate 
cause  we  may — to  delicate  or  disordered  nerves, 
to  morbid  sensibilities,  whether  physical  or 
moral;  to  excessive  intellectual  excitement;  to 
preternatural  susceptibility  to  the  extremes  of 
enjoyment  and   suffering,  we  know  from   the 


ON    RELIGIOUS    EXPERIENCE.  275 

result  that  this  part  of  experience — familiar  to 
him,  in  a  greater  or  less  measure,  from  his 
youth  to  his  last  clays — was  the  means  sancti- 
fied to  the  production  and  maintenance  of  that 
depth,  fulness,  and  richness  of  his  spiritual 
traits,  which  laid  the  foundation  of,  and  gave 
the  predominant  characteristics  and  direction 
to,  his  piety  and  influence.  It  has  been  said 
that  God  can  bring  affliction  to  try  and  mani- 
fest the  graces  of  his  people;  as  the  stars,  that 
are  a  chief  part  of  the  glory  of  the  world,  are 
then  most  illustrious  and  visible  when  the  day 
is  gone;  and  then  he  makes  the  sun  to  rise 
again,  that  displays  new  objects  to  us."  The 
rods  of  God  are  many  times  very  sharp,  but 
at  last  we  shall  find  that  they  were  "dipped  in 
honey,  and  managed  with  love."  The  conduct 
of  Providence  is  always  wise  and  good,  but 
very  often  mysterious  and  unfathomable;  and 
in  nothing  more  so,  than  in  his  bringing 
'abundance  of  his  servants  to  heaven  by  the 
very  gates  of  hell ;  and  in  suffering  Satan  to 
bufiet  and  perplex  them,  that  they  may 
triumph    over    him    in    the   latter    end.      He 


276  INFLUENCE   OF    HEALTH    AND    DISEASE 

makes  them  to  be  in  great  perplexities,  that 
the  sweet  wonders  of  his  deliverance  may  the 
more  appear.  We  ivent  through  fire  and  through 
ivater,  hut  thou  hroughtest  us  out  into  a  wealthg 
2)lace.'  God's  people  should  be  well  satisfied, 
Mr.  Rogers  says,  that  He  carries  them  to  lieaven 
in  the  way  He  thinks  most  proper.  It  were 
indeed  a  thing  very  desirable  to  be  at  ease, 
to  travel  with  light  about  us ;  but  if  we  must 
go  through  darkness,  and  danger,  and  calamity 
to  heaven,  let  us  be  satisfied  that  his  will  is 
done,  though  we  go  weeping  and  groaning 
along  thither.  When  his  candle  shines  upon 
our  tabernacle,  we  are  well  enough  pleased; 
but  when  he  begins  to  correct  and  chasten  us 
for  a  season,  we  murmur,  and  think  he  is  a 
hard  master.  But  out  of  the  ruins  of  the 
flesh,  God  raises  the  glorious  structure  of  the 
new  creature,  and  from  the  destruction  of  our 
earthly  comforts  he  causes  heavenly  joys  to 
spring.  Let  us  not  find  fault  with  God's  pro- 
vidence, for  it  will  turn  our  water  into  wine, 
our  tears  of  grief  into  the  most  pleasant  joys, 
and,  as  at  the  marriage  of  Cana,  we  shall  have 


ON    RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE.  Zi  i 

the  best  at  last.  Two  sorts  of  people,  Dr. 
AYatts  observes,  will  be  disappointed  when 
they  get  to  heaven — the  melancholy  Christian, 
to  find  himself  there,  and  the  censorious  Chris- 
tian, to  find  others  there.  But  what  can  be 
deep  or  mysterious  in  Providence,  or  hard  for 
us  to  believe,  when  we  have  once  received  that 
amazing  doctrine  of  grace,  the  great  central 
truth  of  revelation,  that  God  so  loved  the  world 
as  to  gim  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whdsoever 
believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  hut  have  ever- 
lasting life.  To  many  it  is  a  subject  of  dis- 
tressing perplexity,  that  persons  of  unques- 
tioned piety  sometimes  continue  to  manifest 
great  imperfections  to  the  very  end  of  their 
life.  Even  at  the  near  approach  of  their  tran- 
sition from  the  earthly  state  to  a  heavenly, 
their  sanctification  seems  to  be  immature. 
The  mind  of  Dr.  Guthrie  appears  to  have  been 
strongly  impressed  by  this  enigma  in  Christian 
experience,  of  which  he  could  offer  no  other 
solution  than  that  a  change  must  take  place 
at  the  moment  of  death,  second  only  to  that 
at  the  moment  of  conversion.  "There  is  much 
24 


278  INFLUENCE   OF   HEALTH   AND   DISEASE 

sin  to  be  cast  off,"  he  says,  "like  a  slough, 
with  this  mortal  flesh.  Saw  we  the  spirit  at 
its  departure,  as  Elisha  saw  his  ascending 
master,  we  might  see  a  mantle  of  imperfection 
and  infirmity  dropped  from  the  chariot  that 
bears  it  in  triumph  to  the  skies.  I  have 
thought  that  there  must  be  a  mysterious  work 
done  by  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  very  hour  of 
death,  to  form  the  glorious  crown  and  cope- 
stone  of  all  His  other  labours;  and  that  like 
the  wondrous  but  lovely  plant  which  blows  at 
midnight,  grace  comes  out  in  its  perfect  beauty 
amid  the  darkness  of  the  dying  hour.  How 
that  is  done,  I  do  not  know.  It  takes  one 
whole  summer  to  ripen  the  fields  of  corn,  and 
five  hundred  years  to  bring  the  oak  to  its  full 
maturity.  But  He,  at  whose  almighty  word 
this  earth  sprung  at  once  into  perfect  being, 
loaded  with  orchards,  and  golden  harvests,  and 
clustering  vines,  and  stately  palms,  and  giant 
cedars — man  in  ripened  manhood,  and  woman 
in  her  full  blown  charms,  is  able  in  the  twink- 
ling of  an  eye,  ere  our  fingers  have  closed  the 
filmy  orbs,  or  we  have  stooped  to  print  our 


ON    llELKilOUS   EXPERIENCE.  279 

last  fond  kiss  on  the  marble  brow,  to  crown 
the  work  his  grace  began.  With  him,  one  daif 
is  as  a  thousand  years^  and  a  thousand  years 
as  one  day.  lie  shall  perfect  that  which  con- 
cerneth  you.  He  shall  bring  forth  the  headstone 
thereof  with  shouting^  crying.,  Grace.,  grace  unto 
it.  Now,  therefore,  unto  Him  that  is  able  to  keep 
you  from  falling,  and  to  present  you  faidtless 
before  the  presence  of  his  glory  with  exceeding 
joy,  to  the  only  wise  God  our  Saviour,  be  glory 
and  majesty,  dominion  and  power,  both  now  and 
ever.     Amen. 


INDEX. 


Abercrombie  on  matter  and  inaul           ...  15 

On  in.saiiity  caused  by  religion      .          .          .          .  IIG 

Cases  of  dreaming  mentioned  by  him     .          .          .  157 
Alexander,  Dr.  Archibald,  his  interest  in    the  sub- 
ject treated  in  this  work,  and  counsel     .          .  8 
His  lamented  death      ......  8 

Extract  from  his  work  on  Eeligious  Experience 

concerning  young  preachers           ...  97 
His  opinion  on  insanity,  as  said  to  be  caused  by 

religion         .  .  .  .  .  .  .112 

His  counsel,  not  to  reason  with  a  man  against  his 

views  when  they  arise  from  melancholy            .  183 

His  account  of  Rev.  Dr.  Hall       ....  84 

Counsels  given  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  his  work 

on  Religious  Experience        ....  258 

Two  cases  of  melancholy  mentioned  by  him  .          .  259 

His  opinion  of  Boston's  "Crook  in  the  Lot"            .  102 
Alexander,  Dr.  James  AV.,  his  interest  in  the  subject 

of  this  work    .......  8 

His  counsel  to  watch  and  promote  bodily  health  232 

His  poignant  mental  distress         ....  274 

Appetite,  how  far  lawful  to  indulge  it        .  .  .217 

Aretjvius          ........  42 

Attention,  directed  to  a  disordered  part,  increases  the 

disease    ........  223 

Aristotle's  remark  on  the  great  men  of  his  times       .  38 

Antiochus,  how  affected  by  the  passion  of  love           .  45 

Arminius,  his  view  of  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  146 

Afflictions  of  the  soul,  sometimes  retributive     .          .  182 

intended  to  try  the  graces  of  Christians    .  274 
Animal  food,  sometimes  predisposes  to  inflammatory 
diseases — opinions  of  Drs.  Rush,  Paris,  McNish, 

Arbuthnot 212,213 

24* 


•v.- 


282  INDEX. 


PAGE. 

222 

228 
229 
247 
211 


Activity  in  doing  good,  remedy  for  low  spirits 

Case  of  a  theological  student 

Case  of  Dr.  Lobdell 

Air  and  exercise      ...... 

Alcoholic  drinks      ...... 

Atmosphere,  "moral,"  not  always  a  figure  of  speech  248 

Atmospherical  air,  and  experiment  of  Dr.  Woodhouse  65 
Authors  referred  to,  but  not  quoted,  who  have  written 

on  subjects  kindred  to  this         ....  10 

Arbuthnot,  Dr.,  on  the  effect  of  vegetable  regimen  214 

Augustine,  Father,  concerning  the  unpardonable  sin  145 

B. 

Baglivi,  on  the  physical  influence  of  Lent         .         .  215 

Baker,  Rev.  Daniel 150 

His  fear  of  having  committed  the  unpardonable  sin  150 

His  account  of  a  young  man  killed  by  shame         .  57 

Always  happy      .......  252 

Bartolini,  his  mistake       ......  65 

Barking  exercise     .......  59 

Baxter,  Richard,  troubled  with  doubts  about  his  own 

salvation           ......        87,  266 

His  advice  to  the  desponding  to  seek  medical  aid  186 
To  ascertain  the  cause  of  their  doubts  and  troubles  180 
His  opinion  about  casting  out  the  devil  by  physic  125 
Brain,  its  size  and  power  increased  by  mental  ex- 
citement          .......  31 

Of  Sir  Astley  Cooper's  patient,  visible           .         .  32 

Of  Doctor  Caldwell's  patient          ....  32 

Of  Lord  Byron,  of  Bonaparte,   of  Baron  Cuvier, 

of  an  idiot    .......  33 

Brain  and  Stomach,  like  two  friends  in  health,  and 

enemies  when  diseased      .....  36 

Brainerd,  David,  subject  to  low  spirits       ...  88 
Beef,  its  effect  on  the  blood— ease  of  the  Hon.  C.  A. 

Murray 213 

Believers  troubled,  Baxter's  advice  to       .          .          .  186 

Brigham,  Dr.,  his  loss  uf  appetite  caused  by  a  letter  37 

Bile,  black,  or  melancholy         .....  42 

Body,  inexplicable  structure     .....  13 
We  know  only  a  few  facts  concerning  it         .          .14 


z^ 


INDEX.  283 

FAOE. 

]}()(ly  of  tlic  spiritual  man  should  bo  kept  under         .  210 

Ijodily  cxert-isc  in  revivals,  involuntary     .          .          .  (52 

Case  at  Cane  Kidge 02 

Cases  in  Ireland  mentioned  by  Dr.  IMcXaualiton  03 
I3ook,  its  enlargement  suggested  by  the  friends  of  the 

author     ........  8 

Not  written  for  nicdieal  men         ....  178 

Bonaparte  lean  in  early  life       .....  74 

Boerhaave's  ex])crinicnt  on  epileptic  patients     .          .  50 

BtT?otians  remarkable  for  stupidity     ....  234 

Borri  Franciscu.s,  seventeenth  century,  his  reputation 

and  success      .......  00 

Boston,  l\ev.  Thomas,  a  case  of  spiritual  depression  102 
Burton's  Anatomy  of  ^Iclanchol}',  his  disquisitions  on 

the  intrinsic  qualities  of  certain  kinds  of  food  212 

Blues 258 

Burrows,  his  opinion  on  insanity  caused  by  Christianity  117 


Cranioscopy    ........  28 

Craniology' 28 

Chagrin,  power  of            ......  57 

Cassius,  why  such  men  are  lean        ....  74 

Why  CcVsar  was  afraid  of  him       ....  74 
Charity,  promoted  by  a  study  of  our  subject      .          .100 

Calvinism,  erroneously  said  to  be  the  cause  of  insanity  120 

This  the  opinion  of  the  Romanists,  of  Esquirol,  of 

Macaulay,  and  of  Haley  .  .  .      120,127 

Case  of  a  clergyman  in  New  England        .          .          .  137 

Calvin's  opinion  of  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost     .  140 

Chalmers,  Dr.,  his  opinion  of  this  sin         .          .          .  140 

Cause  of  our  spiritual  troubles  should  be  ascertained  180 

Caesar  and  the  affrighted  shipmaster          .          .          .  201 
Cases  of  mental  disorder  occurring  within  the  sphere 

of  the  author's  pastoral  labours           .          .          .  121 

Casus  omissus           .......  232 

Cheyne's,  Dr.,  opinion  on  the  effect  of  parental  habits  22 

His  estimate  of  the  number  of  nervous  disorders  189 

His  opinion  on  Satiinic  agency        ....  125 

on  the  misery  caused  by  nervous  diseases  107 


28-4  INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Cheyiic,  his  opinion  on  tlic  ignorance  of  good  men 
of  the  things  that  aiFect  their  spiritual  enjoy- 
ment         180 

His  opinion  on  the  prejudice  of  the  world  against 

the  religious  .  .  .  .  .  .120 

Cherry  Hill  prisoners  exempt  from  cholera        .          .  49 

Cheerful  Christians,  their  happy  influence  on  others  2Ul 

Cheerfulness,  commended  by  Dr.  Maynwariug            .  205 

by  Heneca         .         .         .  205 

Cecil,  Rev.  Mr.,  his  letter  to  Mrs.  Hawkes        .         .162 

His  remark  on  spiritual  desertion           .         .         .  224 

on  Melancthon  and  Luther           .          .  73 

The  ^'well-known  minister"  referred  to  on  page      .  129 

His  remark  to  Mr.  Newton  concerning  Cowper      .  95 

Clergymen  in  a  "sine  titulo"  state    ....  226 

Their  peculiar  trials,  especially  in  advanced  age     .  230 

Their  condition  and  claims  not  properly  regarded  232 

Not  to  be  kept  from  the  sick-room         .          .          .  263 
Cheerful   Christians,   one  of  Baxter's  four   cardinal 

rules  to  seek  their  company       ....  204 

Cicero  quoted — his  remark  concerning  hiuuan  nature  27 

Chilo  said  to  have  died  of  excessive  joy    ...  56 
Christians  sometimes  tempted  to  commit  the  mistake 

of  the  sons  of  Zebedee     .....  169 

Their  imperfection  at  the  close  of  life  an  occasion 

of  perplexity  to  many;  explanation  of  Dr.  Guthrie  277 

Christian  experience        ......  68 

Christianity  made  to  sufler  from  the  physical  suffer- 
ings of  its  professors         .  .         .         .  .77 

Christ,  the  desponding  should  look  to  him         .          ,  260 

the  Great  Physician      .....  264 

Coleridge,  his  remark  on  a  man's  history  prior  to  birth  23 

Composed  a  poem  in  his  sleep.                     .  154 

Connection  of  body  and  mind  mysterious            .          .  14 


Cooper,  Sir  Astley — his  patient 

Consumptive  patients  cheerful 

Cholera  in  Philadelphia 

Consolation,  one  of  the  uses  of  this  Treatise 

Conscience,  misguided  by  disease 

Exemplifications  .... 


41 

49 

131 

132 

133 


INDEX. 


285 


Conipariiiii'  cx])oricnccs    ...... 

])r.  ('lialiiier.s'  letter  to  Mr.  Aiulrewson  the  practice 
Coinfurt  idolized — remarks  of  Dr.  Harris 

(if  William  Mason   . 
Combe,  Dr.,  on  intemperate  eating 

On  insanity  imputed  to  religion     . 
Cowper,  case  of  hypochondriasis 

Ilis  malady  nothing  to  do  with  religion 

Happiest  period  of  his  life    .... 

His  letter  to  llev.  J.  Newton 

Description  of  himself  in  the  Castaway 

Uis  melancholy  not  derived  from  his  residence  at 
Olney  ...... 

His  own  opinion  of  the  cause  of  his  suffering 

His  remark  concerning  the  Kev.  Mr.  Bull 

His    case    does    not    militate    against    the    divine 
goodness       ...... 

Relief  of  his  mind  by  translating  Homer  and  the 
works  of  Madame  Guion 

The  Unwins         ...... 

His  Journal         ...... 

Dr.  Moore's  opinion  of  his  case     . 

Dr.  Cotton's  judicious  treatment  of  his  malady 

Account  of  him  by  Eev.  J.  Newton 

His  melancholy  erroneously  ascribed  to  Calvinism 

His  activity  in  doing  good    .... 
Constitution  of  a  person  closely  connected  with  his 

religious  frames        ......       G9 

Illustrated  in  the  case  of  the  melancholy,  timid, 

cheerful,  bashful,  and  bold     .  .  .  69,  70 

Counsel  to  the  desponding  sometimes  attended  with 

danger    ........     182 

Church,  Dr.,  his  opinion  on  the    power  of  faith  to 
prevent  and  cure  diseases 

Confirmed  by  Doctor  Bell     .... 

Case  of  Mr.  Shrubsole  .... 

Opinion  of  Rev.  Dr.  Green 
Cund:)erland,  Richard,  his  temperance 
Cullcn,  Dr.,  on  the  bad  effects  of  opiates 
Chrysostom,  his  opinion  of  grief 
Cyrus,  remark  of  the  astrologer  concerning  him 


286 


INDEX. 


D. 

Dancing  exercise  .... 

"  Dark  side" — some  persons  look  at  no  other 

David's  language  concerning  liis  make 

David,  subject  to  seasons  of"  depression 

Davidson's,  Dr.,  account  of  bodily  exercises  in   the 

revivals  in  Kentucky 
Design  of  the  author 
Depression,  mental,  periodical 

Case  of  Isaac  Milner 

The  suiferer  cannot  resist  it 
Despair,  temptation  to 

A  symptom  of  bodily  disease 

Christians  led  to  it  by  perverted  views  of  truth 

Leads  to  a  neglect  of  the  means  of  grace 

Never  made  a  human  being  better 

Case  mentioned  by  Dr.  Spencer 

Despondency,  religious,  how  to  ascertain  its  real  nature 

Descartes'    opinion   of  medicine    as  an   auxiliary  to 

thought  ....... 

Of  the  seat  of  the  mind        .  .  .  .         . 

Desponding   Christians,  not  easily  convinced  of  the 
mistake  concerning  themselves 

Such  should  pray  for  themselves,  and  seek  an  inte- 
rest in  the  prayers  of  others       .  .  .  . 

Case  of  Rev.  Mr.  Rogers     .         .         .         .         . 

Despondency  aggravated  by  the  irritation  of  food  and 
drink       .  .  .  .  .  . 

Decrees  of  God,  Christians  tempted  to  pry  into  them 
Dreams,  dependent  on  our  physical  condition     . 

Their  effect  on  the  brain       .         ,  .  .  . 

Come  through  ''the  multitude  of  business"    . 

Affected  by  the  state  of  the  stomach 

Case  of  Baron  Trenck  .  :         .  .  . 

Case   of   Condorcet — of  Coleridge — of  President 
Edwards       ....... 

Misapplied  ....... 

Case  of  an  aged  female  ..... 

Of  a  young  lady  in  England         .... 

Of  two  clergymen  mentioned  by  Dr.  Abercrombie 

Shakspeare's  description       .  .  .  .  . 


59 
76 
13 
24 

59 

16 

81 

85 

108 

170 

170 

171 

172 

172 

172 

185 

198 
34 

100 

265 
265 

38 
171 
153 

32 
154 
158 
153 

154 
155 
155 
155 
157 
159 


INDEX. 


287 


Diary,  extract  from  a  preacher's  account  of  nervous 
females  of  his  Hock  .  .  .  .  . 

Diaphrap:m,   remark  of  a  })liysician   concerning  dis- 
eases below  it 
Dietetic  economy  to  be  studied  by  persons  subject  to 
depression  of  sjjirits  ..... 

Diet,  its  effect  on  the  moral  faculty 
Digestion,  organs  of,  connected  Avith  the  mind 
Diseases,  why  nervous  do  not  more  impair  the  physi- 
cal strength     ....... 

Diseases,  change  of  late  in  their  character 
Diseases  of  the  brain  and  nerves  in  England  in  1856 
Diaries  of  some  eminent  Christians  read  with  pain 
Few  willing  that  survivors  should  see  their  own 
Dunglison,  Dr.         ...... 

])rink,  Dr.  Johnson's  opinion 
Disciples  in  the  garden  of  (Jethsemane 
Doctrine,  the  subject  profitable  for 

Dod,  3Ir 

Drugs,  stimulating  or  stupefying 

Opinions  of  Drs.   Good,  CuUen,  and   Moore,  how 
they  operate  on  the  body 
Dyspepsia,  Protean  in  its  forms 

Primarily  a  disease  of  the  brain  and  nervous  system 
Dryden's  translation  of  Lucretius 

Fable  of  Tityus  ..... 

His  method  to  obtain  swiftness  of  thought   and 

flights  of  fancy    ...... 


103 

7 

21G 

212 

31 

19 
189 
190 
140 
141 
240 
211 

25 
100 
111 
245 

240 
38 
38 
42 
42 

198 


E. 

Ease,  lethargic,  not  to  be  indulged  . 
Eastburn,  Mr.  Joseph,  and  Captain  Wickcs 
Eating,  Dr.  Holland's  three  rules     . 

How  much  a  man  may  eat   .... 

Opinion  of  Dr.  Hall    ..... 

Sedentary  men  eat  too  much 

Dr.  Johnson's  rule  to  enable  each   to  decide   fo 
himself        ...... 

Habit  of  President  Edwards 

His  remark  concernin":  Brainerd's  melancholv 


182 
203 
217 
218 
218 
219 

221 
221 

101 


288 


INDEX. 


Eating,  President  Edwards's  power  of  endurance  and 

remarkable  abstemiousness        .         .         .         . 

His  opinion  concerning  dreams 

Exercises,  bodily,  and  the  revival  in  Kentucky 

in  Ireland 

Exercise  and  air  commended  by  all  physicians 

Exercise  of  body  by  certain  Scotchmen    . 

The  counsels  of  one  who  had  been  benefitted  by  it 

Excess  converts  food  into  poison 

Empiricism  shows  the  power  of  imagination 

Empiricism,  private,  discQuraged 

Epileptic  fits  cured  by  fear       .  . 

Esquirol  ascribes  Cowper's  insanity  to  Calvinism 

English  writers,  older,  give  prominency  to  subjects 
such  as  are  treated  in  this  work 

Enjoyment,  spiritual,  connected  with  the  quality  and 
amount  of  our  food  ..... 


221 
154 

59 

63 
248 
250 
251 
215 

64 
199 

50 
126 

179 

234 


Fathers,  concurring  with  Paul  on  the  prejudicial  in 

fluence  of  the  body  on  the  spirit 
Falling  exercise  mentioned  by  Dr.  Davidson 
Francia,  Dr.,  of  Paraguay         .... 
Frames,  some  Christians  make  too  much  of  them 

Case  of  Mrs.  Hawkes  .... 

Letter  of  Mr.  Cecil      ..... 
Frames  should  be  distinguished  from  principles 
Familiarity  with  religion  professional 
Faith,  its  efiicacy  in  the  cure  of  diseases 
Fear,  effect  on  four  murderers  in  Russia   . 

Freedom  from  it,  one  cause  of  the  safety  of  physi 
eians  in  epidemic  and  contagious  diseases 

Curative  efficacy  in   cases  mentioned   by  Doctor; 
Batchelder  and  Rush 

Preventive  of  the  monomania  which  is  the  cause  of 
so  many  murders  .... 

Of  epilepsy  ...... 

Case  in  New  Hampshire       .... 

Effect  of  Broussais'  teachings 

Case  of  Dr.  Hunter     ..... 


26 

59 

81 

159 

161 

162 

162 

225 

262 

48 

49 

49 

50 
50 
50 
50 
51 


INDEX. 


289 


Foar,  of  a  female  mentioned  in  the  French  Journal 
of  Mcdicino,  who  became  black  from  fear  . 
Of  Marie  Antoinette,  whose  hair  became  white  in 
a  single  nii:;ht        ..... 

Of  a  Sepoy  in  the  Benf;al  army    ... 
Of  the  youth  who  robbed  an  eagle's  nest 
Of  the  gambler  at  8an  Francisco 
Fears  of  having  eaten  and  drunk  damnation 
Foolish  course  of  many  with  their  melancholy  friend; 
Food,  men  need  more  than  wcmien    . 

care  and  discrimination  in  the  choice  of  . 
its  effect         ...... 

Fluctuations,  spiritual      ..... 

Case  of  Mrs.  Ilawkos  .... 

Case  mentioned  by  J)r.  Spencer     . 
Fuller,  Andrew,  depressed  in  mind  on  his  death-bed 
Fulness  of  bread  a  predisposing  cause  of  the  vices  of 
the  cities  of  the  Plain       .  .         .  .  . 


52 

53 

53 

171 

100 

219 

234 

234 

162 

161 

82 

104 

212 


a. 

Galen 42 

Greenham's,  old  IMr.,  remark  .....  99 

Green,  Dr.  Ashbel,  his  resolution  not  to  do  any  harm  226 

His  opinion  on  the  causes  of  religious  melancholy  115 
On    excluding    ministers    from    the    chambers   of 

the  sick 2G3 

Grief,  description  of  Father  Chrysostom  ...  55 

Of  3Ielancthon 55 

Its  effect  on  Philip  of  Spain         .         .         .         .55 

Gloominess  consistent  with  a  regenerate  state    .         .  272 

Gout,  cured  by  a  paroxysm  of  fear  ....  49 

Ghost,   Holy,   sin   against — Father  Austin's  remark 

concerning  it   .         .         .         .         .         .         .  145 

Different  opinions   among  the  schoolmen  concern- 
ing its  nature        ......  146 

Good,  Dr.,  on  the  bad  effects  of  narcotics           .          .  246 

His  opinion  concerning  the  spleen         ...  42 
Guthrie,  Dr.,  his  opinion  of  the  change  which  takes 

place  in  Christians  at  the  moment  of  death         .  277 
25 


290 


INDEX. 


H. 

Ilair,  turned  white  by  fear       .....  52 

Ilaygartli's,  Dr.,  exposure  of  Perkins's  tractors          •  64 

Hall,  Kev.  Dr.  James,  case  of  melancholy  .  .  84 
Hall,  Ilev.  Dr.,  extract  from  his  sermon  on  the  death 

of  Dr.  J.  W.  Alexander 274 

Hall,  Dr.,  on  air  and  exercise            ....  247 

Cases  of  suffering  mentioned  by  him  .  .  .  207 
Harsh  speeches  do  the  desponding  harm  .  .  .111 
Happiness,  domestic,  often  dependent  on  the  biliary 

and  digestive  organs          .....  191 

Haley's  Memoirs  of  Cowper  imperfect  and  disingenuous  127 

Hawkes,  Mrs.,  extract  from  her  diary        .          .          .  161 

Heads  of  great  thinkers            .....  33 

Head  of  Bonaparte — of  the  insane — of  Dean  Swift  33 

Henry  VIII.  and  Cardinal  Woolsey           ...  37 

Heart  affected  by  the  brain       .....  38 

by  the  passion  of  love  ...  45 
Heart  of  Dr.  Hunter,  disease  of        .          .          .         .51 

Heart,  Corvisart's  lectures  on            ....  51 

Heart  disease.  Testa's  opinion  ....  51 
Heart  diseases  common  in  Italy  and  France  during 

the  Revolution         .  .  .  .  .  .51 

Heart-broken,  cause  of  death  of  Philip  V.  of  Spain  56 
Heart  renewed,  its  exercises  affected  by  the  condition 

of  the  body     .......  69 

Healthy  persons  cannot  understand  the  feelings   of 

those  who  are  subject  to  nervous  affections          .  98 

Health,  counsel  to  promote  it  .  .  .  .  .  282 
Health,  bodily,  connection  between  it  and  spiritual 

enjoyment        .......  69, 

Henry  VIII 37 

Hippocrates  on  melancholy  .....  42 
on  temperance  .....  211 
Hope,  influence  in  curing  disease  ....  45 
Experience  of  surgeons  in  the  army  ...  46 
Patient  of  Dr.  Rush,  Austrian  army  ...  46 
IIoiDe,  M.  D.,  Rev.  M.  B.,  case  of  religious  melan- 
choly mentioned  by  him  ....  197 
Holy  Spirit's  operation  compared  to  work  of  a  sculptor  70 
Homer,  his  account  of  Tityus           ....  41 


INDEX. 


291 


FAOE. 

iruiiter,  Dr.,  cause  of  his  di.sca.sc  of  heart         .          .  51 
Ilulehiiid,  Dr.,  cominoiuls  tlic  ancient.s      .          .          .  205 
His  opinion  conccrniii!.:,-  infants  that  eat  much  ani- 
mal food        .......  213 

Hypochondriac,  meaning  of  tlic  Avord  analyzed            .  4:3 

I. 

Idiosyncrasies  .......       70 

Idiots  in  a  Massachusetts'  Charity    .  .  ,         .23 

Imatjination,  power  of      .  .  .  .  .  .64 

Exemplified  in  the  records  of  empiricism       .  .       64 

In  J)r.  llayuarth's  wooden  tractors         ...        64 
In  the  experiment  of  Dr.  Woodhousc   .  .  .65 

Patient  of  Bartholini 65 

Case  of  Franciscus  Borri      .....       66 
Case  mentioned  by  Selden    .....       67 
Insanity,  not  produced  by  religion    ....     112 
Opinion  of  Dr.  A.  Alexander        ....     113 
of  Dr.  George  3Ioorc       .         .  .  .114 

of  Dr.  Ashbel  Green        .  .  .  .115 

of  Dr.  James  Johnson     .  .  .119 

of  Dr.  Abercrombie         .  .  .  .116 

of  Burrowes,  Cheyne,  Condje  .  .  .     117 

of  Kirkbride,  error  exposed  in  a  case  re- 
ported by  Dr.  Kirkbride       .  .         .120 
Irons,  hot,  and  the  epileptic  patients         .  .  .50 
Introspection,  sometimes  injurious  to  spiritual  progress     163 
Ignorance  of  good  men  of  things  which  affect  their 

spiritual  enjoyment  .....     180 

Remark  on  the  subject  by  Dr.  Cheyne  .         .     180 

J. 

James,  the  Apostle,  his  reproof  of  those  who  falsely 

ascribe  their  temptation  to  God  .  .  .     144 

Jerks,  or  jerking  exercise  in  religion        '.  .  .59 

Cases  described,  involuntary  ....       60 

Prayer,  a  sedative         ......       61 

Johnson,  Dr.  Samuel,  his  translation  of  Thuanus       .     227 

Johnson's,  Dr.  J.,  opinion  concerning  a  broken  heart       56 
Concerning  night  studies.     .....     23o 

On  the  best  sort  of  drinks    .....     211 

John  the  Evangelist's  temperament — Dr.  Mason's  remarks  73 


292 


INDEX. 


Job's  history  useful  for  caution 

Joy,  its  effect  on  a  woman  in  New  York   . 

on  certain  eminent  men 
Joys  of  heaven  heightened  by  contrast  with  present 

affliction  ...... 

Jurentius,  said  to  have  died  of  joy 

Justification  and  sanctification,  the  desponding  must 

distinguish  between  them 
Juvenile  dehnquents  at  Parkhurst    . 

K. 
Kant,  could  forget  the  pain  of  gout  by  an  effort  of 
thought  ....... 

Kemper,  Mr.,  his  remark  about  the  unpardonable  sin 
Knowledge  of  the  subject  especially  important  to  cler- 
gymen and  instructors  of  children     . 

L. 
Lawrence,  Dr.,  his  system  of  materialism 
Lackington,  Mr.,  his  delusion 
Laughter,  an  aid  to  digestion  .... 

Latin  distich  on  preserving  health    . 
Lady  of  genius,  her  opinion  of  hepatic  influence  on 
her  mind  and  spirits  .... 

Leti  Gregorius — his  story  of  Jacob   Morel  and  the 
Duke  D'Ossuna         ..... 

Leslie     ........ 

Life,  its  enjoyment  dependent  on  the  nervous  system 
Liver,  what  its  use  ..... 

Influence  on  the  temperament 

Passions  and  moi-al  feelings 

Its  affinities  for  that  which  is  gloomy    . 

The  cause  inexplicable         .... 

The  story  of  Tityus  interpreted  by  Lucretius 
Locke's  opinion  of  the  influence  of  association  . 
Love,  the  effect  on  the  pulse    .... 

Lucretius        ....... 

Lungs,  affected  by  the  brain     .... 

Luther's,  Martin,  physical  make 

Dr.  Cox's  remark  concerning  him 

Rev.  Mr.  Cecil's  ..... 

Luxurious  habits  of  London — their  influence    . 


PAGE. 

273 

56 
56 

273 

56 

261 
23 


147 


28 
151 
204 

222 

43 

66 
251 
19 
39 
40 
44 
40 
40 
41 
201 
45 
41 
38 
74 
75 
73 
216 


INDEX.  293 

PAOE. 

M. 

Manichcans    of  the    third    century,  their   mixture  of 

Persian  philosophy  with  Christianity          .         .  27 

Materialism              .......  28 

Madan's,  Dr.,  mistake  of  the  source  of  Cowper's  malady  104 
Mad,  why  worldly  men,  on   becoming  religious,  arc 

called  madmen — Dr.  Cheyne's  reason         .          .  120 

Mab,  Queen 159 

Maynwariug,  Dr.,  his  Tutela  Sanitatis       .          .          .  205 

II is  advice  to  his  melancholy  patients   .          .          .  205 

MacXish,  Dr.,  of  Glasgow,  on  animal  food         .          .  213 

3IfDutrs,  Dr.,  remarks  on  spiritual  fluctuations         .  79 
McNaughton,  Dr.,  his  remarks  concerning  the  cases 

of  bodily  exercises  in  Ireland  ....  63 
Maladies,  spiritual,  not  to  be  brooded  over  225,  270 
Martyn,  Henry,  injured  by  overtaxing  his  mind  .  238 
Mason,  Dr.,  his  remark  concerning  Peter  and  John  73 
Medicine,  why  not  more  cultivated  among  the  ancients  21 
The  father  of  it  born  not  less  than  000  years  be- 
fore Christ 21 

IMedical  relief  in  the  case  of  a  lady            .         -         .  191 

IMedical  advice  recommended             ....  186 

Melancthon  on  the  effect  of  grief     .  .  .  .55 

Melancholy,  meaning  of  the  term     .  .  .  .42 

Keligious,  case  described       .  .      136,  192 

"Wrong  to  nurture  it      .          .          .          .  259 

Not  to  reason  against  it  .  .      183,  257 

Remark  of  Dr.  Alexander     .          .         .  183 

Melancholy  Chri.<tians  misjudged      ....  107 

The  occasion  of  prejudice  against  religion      .          .  77 
Their  sufferings  often  produced  by  physical  causes  78 
Conceal  their  distress — case  of  Captain  Wickes      .  203 
Means  of  grace  neglected  by  desponding  Christians  172 
Mental  disorder — four  cases  mentioned  by  the  author  121 
3Iind,  power  of  a  disquieted,  in  the  case  of  a  Neapo- 
litan merchant          ......  CO 

Mind,  affected  by  the  organs  of  the  body           .          .  31 

collapse  of,  occasioned  by  giving  up  business  223 
Ministers  should  understand  the  influence  of  physical 

causes     ..-..•••  ^^ 
25* 


294  INDEX. 

PAOE. 

Miller,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel,  on  ni<;ht  study           .         .  237 

on  the  use  of  tobacco          .  240 

Mihier,  Rev.  Isaac,  his  maladies  more  than  forty  years  85 

His  letter  to  Mr.  Wilberforce        ....  85 

]\IoraI  qualities  hereditary         .....  135 

Moral  Therapeutics          ......  68 

N. 

Narcotics,  their  injurious  effects        ....  245 

Nerves,  derivation  of  the  word         .  .  .  .17 

Channels  of  communication  between  mind  and  body  17 

Omnipresence  in  the  animal  fabric         ...  17 

Sensation  caused  by  touching  them        ...  18 
Sympathy — Nervous  System         .          .          .          .18 

Wonderful  that  they  are  not  oftener  deranged        .  19 

Not  mortify  so  soon  as  other  parts  of  the  body       .  19 

Nervous  force,  its  nature      .....  19 

Not  electric  power        ......  20 

Way  of  communication  with  brain  and  spinal  mar- 
row, not  known     ......  20 

Notion  of  Hippocrates  and  Galen           ...  20 

Knowledge  of  this  fact  not  important    ...  20 

Morbid  results  of  this  connection           ...  20 

Nervous  diseases,  the  most  numerous  class         .  .189 

How  far  we  are  accountable  for  the  feelings  they 

produce        .  .  .  .  .  .  .184 

Newton,  Rev.  John,  his  remark  to  Cecil  about  Cowper  95 

Case  of  his  wife           ......  123 

His  remark  on  frames  .  .         .  .         .162 

Nitrous  oxide  and  Professor  Woodhouse  ...  65 

0. 

Orme's  remark  on  the  means  of  obtaining  comfort  in 

spiritual  distress       .          .          .          .          ...  267 

Occupation  needful  to  the  desponding       .         .         .  222 

P. 

Paley,  Archdeacon,  on  the  spleen     ....  43 
His    remarks    on    the  goodness    of  God,    written 

under  the  pangs  of  the  stone          .          .          .  210 

Parental  habits,  effect  on  their  offspring    ...  23 

Testimony  furnished  by  prisons  and  almshouses  22 


INDEX. 


295 


Paul,  description  of  conflict  between  body  and  spirit  liG 
Passions,  power  in  disturbing  the  licultliful  action  of 

the  body 45 

Park  and  tlie  flower  in  the  desert     ....  47 

I'ari.sh,  Sir  Woodbine,  account  of  a  gentleman  exe- 
cuted for  murder  in  Ikicnos  Ayres    .          .          .  S2 
His  account  of  the  north  wind  of  Buenos  Ayres   .  81 
Payson,  Dr.,  his  physical  conformation  and  tendency 

to  depression    .......  88 

Remark  concerning  his  biography         .          .          .  140 

His  excessive  abstinence       .....  214 

Prayer,  desponding  Christians  afraid  to  pray     .          .  171 

Paul  the  Apostle's  method  of  promoting  cheerfulness  20G 
Paris,  Dr.,  on  the  free  use  of  animal  food           .          .212 

Page,  Harlan 230 

Playfair 250 

Paul  the  Apostle,  his  temperament            ...  72 

Phrenology     ........  28 

Presentiment  of  Dean  Swift     .....  33 

Preachers,  young,  too  many  not  qualified  to  direct 

the  doubting  conscience    .....  97 

Preachers,  counsels  of  Dr.  llice  to  such  as  are  trou- 
bled with  mental  depression       ....  252 

Preaching,  modern,  a  defect  in         ....  98 

Pearson's,  Mr.,  remark  concerning  Mr.  Hay      .          .  139 

Peering  inward  on  ourselves     .          .          .       164, 2G1,  265 

Peter's  Letters  to  his  Kinsfolk          ....  249 

Peter,  Simon,  his  natural  temperament     .  .  .72 

Pious  men,  why  they  should  be  permitted  to  fall  into 

a  state  of  mental  darkness          ....  272 

No  promises  that  insure  them  against  such  a  trial  272 

Poring  upon  ourselves     ......  270 

Sentiments  of  Mr.  Rogers    .....  270 

Providence,  one  of  its  deep  mysteries        .          .          .  271 

Plutarch's  remark  about  the  Boeotians       .          .          .  234 

Of  the  reaction  of  the  mind  upon  the  body    .          .  199 

Physical  evils  mistaken  for  moral  aff"ections        .          .  98 
Physical    influence,    doctrine    of,    capable    of    being 

])ervcrted         .......  182 

Not  intended  to  be  an  apology  for  sin,  or  perverse- 

ness  of  any  sort   .         .  .         .         .131 


296  INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Physical  influence,  much  in  the  doctrine  to  comfort 

the  suffering   .......  LSG 

May  incite  us  to  watch  against  our  besetting  sins  141 
Physicians,  not  every  one  competent  to  prescribe  for 

the  desponding         ......  187 

What  they  can  do 187 

Too  often  ignorant  of  the  reciprocal  action  of  mind 

and  body     .......  187 

Cannot  read  the  book  of  the  heart         .  .  .187 

Need  moral  qualifications     .....  264 

K. 

Religion  never  causes  insanity  .         .         .  .112 

Rest  of  mind  and  body  necessary     ....  235 

Case  of  a  theological  student         ....  236 

Ridgely,  Dr.,  on  the  unpardonable  sin       ,          .          .  149 

Rice,  Dr.  N.  L.,  his  excellent  remarks      .          .          .  252 
Rolling  exercise,  Dr.  Davidson's  accoiint  of       .         .59 

Rogers,  Rev.  Timothy     ......  75 

His  description  of  religious  melancholy          .          .  76 

His  advice  about  the  choice  of  a  physician    .          .  188 
Several  cases  of  religious  despondency  mentioned 

by  him 202 

His  instruction  to  the  desponding  to  look  to  Christ  261 

His  own  relief  in  answer  to  prayer         .          .          .  265 

His  book  a  monument  of  his  deliverance       .          .  265 
His  remarks  on  God's  way  of  taking  Christians  to 

heaven         .......  276 

Rousseau's  hypochondria,  how  promoted  .          .          .  199 

Rush,  Dr.,  his  hopeful  patient           ....  47 

His  essay  on  the  influences  of  physical  causes  on 

the  moral  faculty  .  .  .  .  .101 

His  opinion  that  moral  qualities  are  hereditary       .  135 

On  the  fi'ee  use  of  animal  food     ....  212 

On  the  moral  qualifications  necessary  for  a  physician  264 
Himself  an  instance  of  despondency  without  sus- 
pecting the  cause          .         .         .         .         .101 

Rutherford,  his  remark   ......  272 

Russel's  Seven  Sermons,  an  extract  from  them           .  150 

Running  exercise  in  revivals.  Dr.  Davidson's  account  59 


INDEX. 


297 


s. 

Sacred  writings,  furnish  little  instruction  concerning 

the  union  of  soul  and  body         ...  23 

Sanctification  to  be  distinguished  from  justification    .  261 

Savages  know  little  of  nervous  diseases     ...  21 

Saul,  the  king's,  distressing  affection          ...  24 

Stackhouse,  his  opinion  of  Saul's  case       ...  24 
Saviour,  the,  recognizes  the  influence  of  the  natural 

over  the  spiritual  part       .....  25 

Stratonice  loved  by  Antiochus  .  .  .  .45 

Shame,  case  mentioned  by  Kev.  Dr.  Baker        .          .  57 
Satanic  agency,  mistake  of  imputing  to   it  what  is 

dependent  on  bodily  disease      ....  144 

Case  of  llev.  John  Newton's  wife          .         .         .  123 
Cases  of  Bunyan  and  Martin  Luther     .          .          .  124 
Standard  of  piety,  to  adopt  one  that  is  false,  a  tempta- 
tion of  desponding  Christians    ....  151 

Shakspeare's  account  of  dreaming    ....  159 

Self-examination,  docs  not  always  aid  us  in  obtaining 

comfort  from  guilt  ......  266 

Spleen,  what  its  use — opinion  of  Dr.  Good        .         .  42 
Opinion  of  Archdeacon  Paley       .         .         .         .43 

Supposed  connection  with  low  spirits    ...  42 

Selden's  Table-Talk 67 

Secretary  of  the  lloyal  Academy  of  Medicine  in  Paris  105 
Keproof  of  his  medical  brethren  for  looking  at  the 

organic  effects  of  disease  instead  of  its  cause  106 

Sleep,  M.  Guizot's  faculty  for           ....  237 

Science,  its  testimony  to  the  reciprocal  influence  of 

mind  and  body          ......  27 

Sin,   unpardonable,  opinion  about   it  since  the    Ile- 

f)rmation         .......  146 

In  many  cases  the  fear  of  having   committed  it  a 

symptom  of  bodily  disease     ....  147 

Case  of  a  young  man  who  for  twelve  years  sup- 
posed himself  to  be  guilty  of  it     .          .          .  148 
Scripture,  sudden  recurrence    of  alarming   passages 

often  misused           ......  151 

Spiritual  desertion  imagined    .....  168 

Spirituality  of  mind  not  necessarily    connected  with 

theological  studies    ......  225 


298  .      INDEX. 

Spiritual  depression  periodical 

Case  mentioned  by  Dr.  Spencer,  of  Brooklyn,  N. 

Of  Mr.  Cecil 

Of  a  venerable  clerffvnian    .... 

Spirits,  low.  Dr.  Eice's  opinion  concerning  the  cause 
Swift,  Dean,  his  mental  imbecility  in  latter  part  of 
his  life     ...... 

Soul,  known  only  by  its  attributes  or  qualities  . 

Stomach,  its  action  on  the  mind 

Sophocles,  said  to  have  died  of  excessive  joy    . 

Society,  suitable,  recommended 

Schoolmen  of  the  Middle  Ages 

Solomon  on  cheerfulness  .         ,  ,  . 

Smoking  produces  cancer  in  the  mouth    . 

Affection  of  the  heart  .... 

Shuttleworth,  Mr.  Kay,  his  examination  of  the  juve- 
nile delinquents  at  Parkhurst    . 
Sufferers  from  depression  not  able  to  apply  the  truth 
their  case  requires — Case  of  Dr.  liusli 

Case  of  Kev.  Thomas  Boston 

Case  of  Rev.  Thomas  Scott 
Subject  of  this  book  useful  for  correction 
Superstition,  cause  of  insanity 
Sunshine,  perpetual,  not  to  be  expected    . 
Sufferers  mentioned  by  Dr.  Hall 
Study  at  unseasonable  hours    .... 

Opinion  of  Dr.  James  Johnson     . 

Of   the    author   of    a   Doctor's    Manual   for    the 
Nervous       ...... 

Case  of  a  theological  student 

Opinion  of  Dr.  S.  Miller     .... 
Sympathy  in  the  organs  of  the  body 

The  fact  well  known    ..... 
Sympathy  of  the  mind  defined 

Exemplified  in  yawning,  wheezing,  asthma,  cough 
Sympathy,  morbid  and  imitative 

Physical  effects  seen  in  revivals  of  religion   . 

Its  power  illustrated  in  the  success  of  empiricism 
Sympathy,  too  little  felt  for  persons  subject  to  ner- 
vous affection  ......     109 


*»^ 


INDEX. 


209 


Sydenham's  estimate  of  the  proportion  of  fevers  to 

other  diseases  .  .  .  .  .  .189 

Dr.  C'heyne's  estimate           .....  189 

Estimate  of  Trotter 100 

T. 

Tahua,  died  of  excessive  joy    .....  .50 

Tampering  with  drugs  discouraged            .          .          ,  100 

Kousseuu's  confession  in  regard  to  himself     .          .  109 

Treatises  on  kindred  subjects  numerous    ...  8 

Temptations  of  the  desponding          ....  144 

The  power  of  temptation  derived  from  ourselves    .  144 
Temptation  of  some  to  tliink  that  they  have  commit- 
ted the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost        .          .          .  145 
Temptation   of  the   desponding  to  watch  their  fluc- 
tuating frames          ......  159 

Case  of  Kev.  Richard  Baxter       ....  2(30 

Remarks  of  Mr.  Orme         .....  207 

Treatises  on  the  subject  of  this  volume  not  called  for 

by  many          .......  170 

Temperance  .  .  .  .  .  .  .211 

Tredium  vittx;,  a  panacea  for     .....  227 

Tityus,  the  fable  concerning  him  explained        .          .  41 

Tobacco,  its  injurious  effects    .....  239 

Candidate  for  the  ministry  rejected  for  using  it      .  239 

Case  of  Rev.  Mr.  Bull 239 

King  James  the  First,   his  Counterblast   against 

Tobacco 239 

Edict  against  it  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth       .          .  239 

Cases  mentioned  by  Dr.  Dunglison        .          .          .  240 
Sentiments  of  Rev.  Dr.  Miller     .         .         .      240,  243 

Excessive  use  of  it  by  theological  students    .         .  240 

A  sin  against  our  neighbour          ....  242 

Deaths  in  Germany  caused  by  its  use    .          .          .  244 

Its  effect  on  the  mind            .....  245 

Its  effect  on  the  mouth  in  causinc,-  cancer      .         .  244 


Unpardonable  sin    .......     145 

Uses  of  knowledge  on  the  subject  of  this  book  for 

doctrine  .  .  .  .  .  .  .100 

Urquhart  injured  by  excessive  study         .         .         .     238 


300 


Virgil,  quoted 


INDEX. 

V. 

w. 


Waterloo,  case  of  a  soldier  wounded  there 

Watchfulness  against  melancholy 

Water,  the  best  drink  according  to  Hippocrates  and 

Dr.  Johnson  ..... 

Watts,  his  remark  concerning  the  disappointments  of 

heaven    ....... 

Wellington,  Lord,  his  physical  constitution 
Wretchedness  of  a  state  of  spiritual  despondency 
Writings,  sacred,  why  give  so  little  instruction  on  the 

subject  of  this  volume      .... 
They  contain  exemplifications  of  its  truth 
Wind,  north,  its  effect  in  Buenos  Ayres    . 
Wife,  deranged,  mentioned  by  a  minister  of  London 
Wickes,  Captain,  a  case  of  prolonged  melancholy 
White,  Henry  Kirke,  depressions  of  mind 
Woodhouse,  Dr.,  his  experiment   to  show  the  power 

of  imagination  ..... 

Work  on  the  subject  of  this  volume  called  for 
Woolsey,  Cardinal  ..... 


41 


31 

259 

211 

277 

7-1: 

13G 

23 

24 

81 

130 

203 

238 

G5 
IG 
37 


Z. 

Zimmermann,  Dr.,  his  account  of  the  death  of  Philp  V., 
King  of  Spain  ...... 


55 


THE    END. 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Libraries 


1    1012  01250   5618 


/ 


